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Bryan E. Dowd
- Hide BioBryan Dowd is a professor in the Division of Health Policy and Management in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.
Bryan E. Dowd's Archive
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Jul 18, 2011
A reasonable reading of the following 34 brief essays in American Experiment’s newest symposium—What Governmental Services and Benefits Are You Personally Willing to Give Up?—suggests that more Americans than generally assumed may be seriously willing to sacrifice when it comes to major entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. In the interest of balancing the nation’s skewed books, the columns similarly suggest that more people than routinely thought may be willing to forgo various exemptions and other tax breaks, including near-sacred deductions on home mortgage payments.
Jul 14, 2011
A reduction in government spending does not necessarily imply a reduction in services. Contracting with private sector providers has reduced government expenditures for some services, and increased user fees transfer a portion of the cost of services from the tax ledger to those who use the services. Before reducing or eliminating valued government services, we should make sure they are being produced and financed in the most efficient manner possible.
But let’s suppose that all those efficiency-enhancing steps have been taken. Now what would I give up? Any meaningful answer must confront the big-ticket items: tax expenditures, defense spending, and entitlements.
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Feb 17, 2009
Politicians, commentators, and others are talking increasingly about the need for citizens to “sacrifice.” It’s hard to imagine any sensible person disagreeing with the call in the abstract. But the question at hand is not the least bit abstract: Specifically, what government services currently and directly benefiting you and your family – be those services local, state, or federal – would you be willing to see curtailed or even ended entirely?