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The Supply-Side Revolution, by Paul Craig Roberts (Harvard, 311 pp., $18.50)

The key insight of the supply-side movement was simply this: It is politically possible to cut tax rates, while it is impossible to cut spending. (Federal spending has not been cut since the end of the Korean War.) This had not been grasped—and it still has not—by balanced-budget Republicans and Austrian economists, who agreed with supply-siders that the role of the market should be increased, and that of government reduced. Only the supply-siders understood that waiting for spending cuts handed victory to the Left, because it would mean waiting forever.

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Tom Bethell

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The Supply-Side Revolution, by Paul Craig Roberts (Harvard, 311 pp., $18.50)

The key insight of the supply-side movement was simply this: It is politically possible to cut tax rates, while it is impossible to cut spending. (Federal spending has not been cut since the end of the Korean War.) This had not been grasped—and it still has not—by balanced-budget Republicans and Austrian economists, who agreed with supply-siders that the role of the market should be increased, and that of government reduced. Only the supply-siders understood that waiting for spending cuts handed victory to the Left, because it would mean waiting forever.