On March 1, 2018, College Republicans, co-hosted with Phi Beta Lambda and the Society of Women in Business, presented Trumponomics: The Road to Riches or Ruins? featuring Dr. Arthur Laffer, an esteemed economic advisor during the Reagan administration and creator of the Laffer Curve. College Republicans were able to bring Dr. Laffer due to a partnership with the Young American Foundation.
Prior to the event, Dr. Laffer spent the day networking at Stevens. Dr. Laffer started the day by having lunch with multiple professors in the School of Business, including Dr. Richard Anderson and Dr. Alexander Rodivilov. Afterwards, he talked in Dr. Anderson’s Microeconomics class before the Trumponomics event.
Danny Polk, President of College Republicans, opened the talk. He stated that College Republicans was founded to provide “a voice and platform for conservative principles,” including the free market and free speech on college campuses. Polk stated he first thought of bringing Dr. Laffer to Stevens at a Young Americans Conference over the summer. Polk thought he would be a great fit to talk at Stevens due to recent tax cuts by the Trump administration.
Dr. Laffer started the talk by making a joke about his short height and proclaiming how great Stevens is due to the view. He then opened the talk with an analogy. The government taxes speeders to stop people from speeding while driving. However, the government still taxes corporations for making a profit, which Dr. Laffer stated is discouraging to the economy. He then shared his story of moving from San Diego to Tennessee. He moved 13 years ago in order to pay fewer taxes, as Tennessee has one of lowest tax rates in the nation. He stated that when he talked at Harvard, none of them realized why he moved. He explained that economics is about incentives. Despite moving, he said he missed California and enjoyed serving as an economic policy adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even though he enjoyed being policy adviser, he stated that Schwarzenegger was a lousy governor, and he has many entertaining stories about him.
Afterwards, he talked about his recent analysis of states that have a state income tax and those that do not. According to him, states that adopted an income tax declined in all econometrics in the years after. He then mentioned Michigan, a state that used to be the pinnacle of the nation that has declined sharply in GDP, Gross Domestic Product, relative the rest of the nation. Detroit used to be “the Paris of North America” but is now an unpopular place to visit.
Dr. Art Laffer then talked about how to properly measure an economy. He said that in order to adjust price, populations, and other factors, the Real Gross Domestic Product per adult should be used. He then used this measure to compare the economy during different times in U.S. history. He stated that when tax cuts were introduced during the Kennedy and Reagan administrations, the economy flourished according to his given metric. Based on this, he believes the economy will flourish after the recent tax cuts from the Trump administration.
After his talk, there was a question and answer session with the audience. Questions ranged from topics such as Trump’s tax plan to Bernie Sanders. Danny Polk thanked everyone for attending and invited anyone interested for a photo-op with Dr. Laffer.
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