Ж Jude Wanniski: Саясат және экономика теоретигінің өмірі мен еңбектері

American journalist, conservative commentator, and political economist

Jude Thaddeus Wanniski (June 17, 1936 – August 29, 2005) was an American journalist, conservative commentator, and political economist.

Wanniski was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, the son of Constance, who worked at an accounting firm, and Michael Wanniski, an itinerant butcher. His father was of Polish descent and his mother was a Scottish immigrant. When he was still very young, his family moved to Brooklyn, where his father became a book binder. He also began directly advising politicians on economic policy, first candidate Ronald Reagan and later presidential hopefuls Jack Kemp and Steve Forbes. Polyconomics as a corporation ceased operations on June 30, 2006, ten months after Wanniski's death, but the name (a combination of "politics" and "economics") lives on at The Polyconomics Institute, where one can find the Wanniski's collected works for Polyconomics, as well as correspondence with economic policy makers, and lectures.

Wanniski consistently advocated the reduction of trade barriers, the elimination of capital gains taxes, and a return to the gold standard.

Wanniski was instrumental in popularizing the ideas of lower tax rates embodied in the "Laffer Curve" and was present in 1974 when Arthur Laffer drew the curve on the famous napkin for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. A simplified view of the theory is that tax revenues would be zero if tax rates were either 0% or 100% and somewhere in between 0% and 100% is a tax rate that maximizes total revenue. Laffer's postulate was that the tax rate that maximizes revenue was at a much lower level than previously believed, so low that current tax rates were above the level for revenue to be maximized. Wanniski suggested that the United States was on the wrong side of the Laffer curve.

The Two Santa Claus Theory is a political theory and strategy published by Wanniski in 1976, which he promoted within the United States Republican Party. The theory states that in democratic elections, if members of the rival Democratic Party appeal to voters by proposing programs to help people, then the Republicans cannot gain broader appeal by proposing less spending. The first "Santa Claus" of the theory title refers to the Democrats who promise programs to help the disadvantaged. The "Two Santa Claus Theory" recommends that the Republicans must assume the role of a second Santa Claus by not arguing to cut spending but offering the option of cutting taxes.

Wanniski has been credited with coining the term supply side economics to distinguish it against the more dominant "demand side" Keynesian and monetarist theories. The rising GOP star Jack Kemp became a supply side economics advocate due to Wanniski's tutelage, and would work to put his proposals into legislative practice. The Way the World Works was named one of the 100 most influential books of the 20th century by National Review magazine. Conservative commentator Robert D. Novak said, in the introduction to the 20th anniversary edition (1998) of the book, that it was one of two books that "shaped [Novak's] mature philosophy of politics and government." (Whittaker Chambers' Witness is the other.) Starting in 1987, Wanniski edited an annual "Media Guide" in which he rated pundits on a four star scale. Some conservatives, such as George F. Will and Norman Podhoretz, received only a single star. He was running his economic consultancy from its Parsippany offices. He spoke of having many Wall Street clients, although he complained that some had left due to his politics. He posted personal commentaries several times a week on his personal website, on topics ranging from international politics and trade policy to reviews of films.