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Amanda Griffith of Wake Forest University reviews 'The Economics of Tax Policy,' by Alan J. Auerbach and Kent Smetters. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: 'Eleven papers, prepared for a conference held at the Brookings Institution in December 2015, plus commentary, present nontechnical reviews of insights gained from recent economic research that can inform the policy process and provide an overview of the major areas of tax analysis. Papers discuss tax reform in a changing economy; effects of income-tax changes on economic growth; environmental taxation; tax compliance and enforcement-an overview of new research and its policy implications; economic and distributional effects of tax-expenditure limits; tax benefits for college attendance; tax policy toward low-income families; the economics of corporate- and business-tax reform; US capital gains and estate taxation-a status report and directions for a reform; tax policy and retirement savings; and fundamental tax reform-a comparison of three options. Auerbach is Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law and Director of the Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance at the University of California, Berkeley. Smetters is Boettner Chair Professor with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christopher J. Waller of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reviews 'The Myth of Independence: How Congress Governs the Federal Reserve,' by Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: 'Explores the political and economic catalysts that transformed the Federal Reserve's development during its first one hundred years, contextualizing Congress's existential role in driving the evolution of the Fed.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

June Carbone and Naomi Cahn argue that growing earnings inequality and the increased educational attainment of women, relative to men, have led to declining marriage rates for less-educated women and an increase in positive assortative matching since the 1970s. These trends have negatively affected the welfare of children, as they increase the proportion of poor, single-female-headed households. Using data on marriage markets defined by state, race and time, and the Choo-Siow marriage matching function, this review provides a quantitative assessment of these claims. We show that changes in earnings inequality had a qualitatively consistent but modest quantitative impact on marriage rates and positive assortative matching. Neither changes in the wage distributions nor educational attainments can explain the large decline in marriage rates over this period. (JEL C78, D63, J12, J15, J16, J31) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of culture in the creation and persistence of racial and ethnic inequalities has been the focus of considerable controversy in the social sciences. In The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America, a new book intended for a popular audience, 'tiger mom' Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld argue that relatively successful ethnic, religious, and national origin groups in the United States possess a common set of culturally determined traits that drive this success: a sense of group superiority, individual insecurity, and good impulse control. The book is an unscholarly romp through fields of ethnic stereotypes and immigrant anxiety that relies on anecdote, rather than data, and that ignores the selectivity of immigrant flows. In their insistence on the need for the whole triple package, however, the authors raise issues relevant to current research on noncognitive skills-that there are important trait-environment interactions in the determinants of economic success, and that the source and impact of aspirations deserves greater attention. (JEL D63, J15, J24, Z12, Z13) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greg C. Wright of University of California, Merced reviews 'How Many Is Too Many? The Progressive Argument for Reducing Immigration into the United States', by Philip Cafaro. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: 'Considers the question of annually limiting the number of immigrants allowed in the United States and presents a progressive argument for limiting the amount. Discusses good people, hard choices, and an inescapable question; immigration by the numbers; the wages of mass immigration; winners and losers; growth, or what an economy is for; population matters; the environmentalists' retreat from demography; defusing America's population bomb-or cooking the earth; solutions; and objections. Cafaro is Professor of Philosophy and an affiliated faculty member in the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Colorado State University.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert A. Becker of Indiana University reviews 'The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance: Professionalization and the Modern American University', by Larry G. Gerber. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: 'Provides a history of shared governance in higher education in the United States. Discusses college governance before 1876; the emergence of a professional faculty, 1870-1920; the development of faculty governance, 1920-40; the developing consensus on shared governance, 1940-75; corporatization and the challenge to shared governance, 1975-present; and shared governance and the future of liberal education. Gerber is Professor Emeritus of History at Auburn University.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]