Fiscal policy and the importance of word choice
In economic policy debates, lawmakers have to be very careful about the language they choose.
In economic policy debates, lawmakers have to be very careful about the language they choose.
By Donald Marron, Guest blogger
Rhetoric聽matters in economic policy debates.聽Would allowing people to purchase health insurance from the federal government be a public option, a government plan, or a public plan? Would investment accounts in Social Security be private accounts, personal accounts, or individual accounts? (See my post on the rule of three.) Are tax breaks really tax cuts or spending in disguise? Is the tax levied on the assets of the recently departed an estate tax or a death tax?
In an excellent piece in the New York Times,聽Eduardo Porter describes another important example, how we characterize differences in income: