Preface Chapter 1: The Politics of Bad Ideas Chapter 2: The Tax Cut Theories Chapter 3: Evaluating the Claims Chapter 4: Budgetary Politics and the Spending Mind-Set Chapter 5: Institutions, Rules, and Politics Chapter 6: Big Government Republicanism Costs Money Chapter 7: Politics, Economics, and Tax Theories Chapter 8: The Impacts of Recent Fiscal Policies on America Chapter 9: The Rise and Decline of Reality-Based Policymaking in the Federal Government, 1945-2006 Chapter 10: The Role of Institutions Chapter 11: Why Do Bad Ideas Persist? Chapter 12: Escaping the Dead Weight of Bad Ideas Appendix

Bryan D. Jones is Donald R. Matthews Distinguished Professor of American Politics and Director of the Center for American Politics and Public Policy at the University of Washington, Seattle. His scholarly interests focus on American public policy processes. Jones' numerous books include Politics and the Architecture of Choice (Chicago, 2001), Preconceiving Decision-Making in Democratic Politics (Chicago, 1994), both winners of the APSA Political Psychology Section Robert Lane Award, and Agendas and Instability in American Politics (co-authored with Frank Baumgartner; Chicago, 1993), winner of the 2001 Aaron Wildavsky Award for Enduring Contribution to the Study of Public Policy.

Walter Williams is Distinguished Fellow, Center for American Politics and Public Policy, and Professor Emeritus, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. He is a frequent contributor to the editorial pages of newspapers throughout the country. His numerous books include Reaganism and the Death of Representative Democracy (Georgetown University Press, 2003), Honest Numbers and Democracy (Georgetown University Press, 1998), and Mismanaging America (University Press of Kansas, 1990).