Owen Zidar

The ‘Cable Cowboy’ Battles a Giant Gas Station for the Soul of the West A dispute over plans for a colossal highway rest stop has divided a small Colorado town—and it’s boiled over into slashed tires and crude name-calling.

www.wsj.com/us-news/buce...

Trump’s Big Bill Would Be More Regressive Than Any Major Law in Decades Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, released Thursday, offer a detailed view into the effects on income groups.

The GOP megabill now before the Senate cuts taxes for high earners and reduces benefits for the poor.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump’s Big Bill Would Be More Regressive Than Any Major Law in Decades Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, released Thursday, offer a detailed view into the effects on income groups.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Fun fact: debt and sin are the same word in German

HT: Andreas Peichl

I've had the pleasure to organize this year's @cepr.org Public Economics Symposium, together with @sigginho.bsky.social and Johannes Spinnewijn. Here's the program:

drive.google.com/file/d/1CggW...

Looking forward to 2 great days in Cologne, keynotes by @omzidar.bsky.social and Cecile Gaubert!

You should read the book. There’s some nuance about different sources of wealth of business owners. One important force in many industries from beverage distribution to auto dealing to dentistry is regulatory capture and restraints to competition.

Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill Is Great for the Podcast Episode · Plain English with Derek Thompson · 05/28/2025 · 1h 8m

Eric Zwick was on ⁦‪@DKThomp‬⁩’s podcast talking about our research on the tax cuts and jobs act and a bit about our forthcoming book on the stealthy wealthy

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

Smerconish: The Secret Path to Wealth No One Talks About - Smerconish on CNN - Podcast on CNN Audio It's commencement season. This year's speakers they include military leaders, politicians, sports stars, captains of industry, celebrities, even a famous frog. They'll all be addressing many young gra...

www.cnn.com/audio/podcas...

YouTube video by CNN Who are the 'stealthy wealthy' and how do they make their money?

Thanks for having me on the show @smerconish.bsky.social

youtu.be/rRL4X49KVBM?...

Appeal from colleagues at Harvard:

"...we also call upon our fellow institutions of higher education in the United States to declare their willingness to facilitate the immediate co-enrollment of Harvard’s international students., including formal acceptance of transfer for immigration purposes."

Lessons from the Biggest Business Tax Cut in US History (Summer 2024) - We assess the business provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the biggest corporate tax cut in US history. We draw five lessons. First, corporate tax revenue fell by 40 percent ...

Seems like a good time to re-read this paper by Chodorow-Reich, @omzidar.bsky.social, and Zwick.
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Owen’s Substack | Owen Zidar | Substack Stay tuned for updates on our forthcoming book. Click to read Owen’s Substack, by Owen Zidar, a Substack publication. Launched 3 days ago.

Owen’s Substack -sign up here for updates on our forthcoming book on the stealthy wealthy everywheremillionaire.substack.com?r=4a6ft&utm_...

For Once, Economists Agree: Extending Section 199A Is A Bad Idea The rule has proven to be expensive, regressive, complicated, ineffective in promoting investment, and unfair to wage earners.

taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/once-...

Michael is joined by Dr. @omzidar.bsky.social , a professor from Princeton University, to discuss the "Stealthy Wealthy": entrepreneurs who quietly build multimillion-dollar fortunes through unglamorous, essential businesses.
Listen to the #podcast here 🎧➡️ loom.ly/7l3hQnE

The "Stealthy Wealthy": Rich, Quiet, and Right Next Door Talked to Michael Smerconish on his podcast about entrepreneurs who quietly build multimillion-dollar fortunes through unglamorous, essential businesses

open.substack.com/pub/everywhe...

Thanks

Thanks

If you have not done so already, I would take a look at Isaac William Martin's Rich People's Movements and The Permanent Tax Revolt. He has interviewed many people involved in anti-tax activism.

The Stealthy Wealthy Meet the ‘Stealthy Wealthy’ Who Make Their Money the Boring Way

Also please sign up here for updates on the book
open.substack.com/pub/everywhe...

If you know of any fun stories or examples of their influence - please let us know!

Meet the ‘Stealthy Wealthy’ Who Make Their Money the Boring Way The road to riches is paved with cup holders, burgers and miles of elementary school carpeting for many medium-size regional businesses, a sector with growing importance to the U.S. economy.

The WSJ did a story today on our forthcoming book on the stealthy wealthy: who is really rich in America and how they got there

www.wsj.com/business/mak...

Audio Data Shows Newark Outage Problems Persisted Longer Than Officials Said Times analysis of air traffic recordings and flight data shows that outage-related problems persisted far longer than what the officials have acknowledged.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Congratulations @s-stantcheva.bsky.social !

www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/ho...

Markets are now down ~14% since Trump was inaugurated.
Not as bad as the recent trough under Trump, but the gap between market performance to date vs. performance in same period in earlier administrations appears to be growing

JFC. So far, Trump has caused markets to lose about 14%.
Here's how the same period to date looks under other recent presidential terms

Markets are down sharply, again.

Extraordinary economic pessimism, entirely attributable to mismanagement.

I’m a Soybean Farmer Who Voted for Trump. I’m Begging the President to End the Trade War. The tariffs on China could put us out of business by 2027. All our blood, sweat, and toil could vanish with the stroke of a pen.

www.thefp.com/p/im-a-soybe...

"Reconsidering commitment to tax cuts for the rich"* ** *** ****

* Except for the tax cut for the heirs of the wealthiest estates
**Except for the tax cut for passthrough biz, half of which goes to millionaires
*** Except for corporate tax cuts about a third of which goes to the top 1%
**** Etc.

Entire Staff Is Fired at Office That Helps Poorer Americans Pay for Heating The move threatens to paralyze the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps to offset high utility bills for roughly 6.2 million people nationwide.

Citing Professor Seema Jayachandran's (@seema.bsky.social) research, @nytimes.com analyzes the potential impact of firing the staff at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/c...

Exactly this, from @natasharsarin.bsky.social & former IRS commissioner Danny Werfel: "In other words, an extremely diminished IRS could unlock a race to the bottom and create an evasion advantage for those who are comfortable skirting their tax bills."
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...