Program on Public Economics.

• Position: Of the National Bureau of Economic Research

The NBER's Program on Public Economics met in Cambridge on April 16 and 17. Program Director James M. Poterba, of NBER and MIT, organized this program:

Timothy J. Besley, NBER and London School of Economics, and Stephen Coate, NBER and University of Pennsylvania, "Analyzing the Case for Government Intervention in a Representative Democracy"

Discussant: Richard J. Zeckhauser, NBER and Harvard University

Steven Caldwell and Melissa Favrealt, Cornell University; Alla Gantman, Boston University; Jagadeesh Gokhale, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland; Laurence J. Kotlikoff, NBER and Boston University; and Thomas Johnson, Cornell University, "Social Security's Treatment of Postwar Americans"

Discussant: Eugene Steuerle, Urban Institute

Nada Eissa and Hilary W. Hoynes, NBER and University of California, Berkeley, "The EITC and Labor Supply: Married Couples" Bruce D. Meyer, NBER and Northwestern University, and Dan T. Rosenbaum, Northwestern University, "Welfare, the EITC, and the Labor Supply of Single Mothers" Discussant: Jeffrey B. Liebman, NBER and Harvard University James J. Heckman, NBER and University of Chicago; Lance Lochner, University of Chicago; and Christopher R. Taber, Northwestern University, "Evaluation of Education and Training Programs in a General Equilibrium Setting"

Discussant: Caroline M. Hoxby, NBER and Harvard University

John B. Shoven, NBER and Stanford University, "The Location and Allocation of Assets in Pension and Conventional Savings Accounts" Discussant: James M. Poterba Aaron Yelowitz and Janet Currie, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles, "Are Public Housing Projects Good for Kids?" (NBER Working Paper No. 6305) Discussant: Robert V. Moffitt, NBER and Johns Hopkins University David M. Cutler, NBER and Harvard University; Douglas W. Elmendorf, Federal Reserve Board; and Richard J. Zeckhauser, "Restraining the Leviathan: Property Tax Limitation in Massachusetts" (NBER Working Paper No. 6196)

Discussant: Robert P. Inman, NBER and University of Pennsylvania

Besley and Coate note that the "welfare economic method" of analyzing the case for government intervention is often criticized for ignoring the political determination of policies. To answer that criticism, some adopt the assumption that new interventions will not affect the level of existing policy instruments. The authors argue that this assumption is particularly misleading in suggesting that political economy concerns must dampen the case for...