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For Immediate Release
Contact: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Effective Stimulus: Food Stamps vs. Tax Cuts

WASHINGTON

JOSH BIVENS
Bivens is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, which has posted information contrasting the economic benefits of various stimulus provisions, per dollar spent:

Food stamps: $1.73

Extend unemployment benefits: $1.64
Infrastructure spending: $1.59
Aid to states: $1.36

In contrast:

Make dividend and capital
gains tax cuts permanent: $0.37
Corporate tax cuts: $0.30

Make Bush tax cuts permanent: $0.29

Data based on Moody's Economy.com.

See "A meaningful stimulus for Main Street."

Bivens is author of Everybody Wins, Except for Most of Us: What Economics Teaches About Globalization and the recent briefing paper "A Feeble Recovery: The fundamental economic weaknesses of the 2001-07 expansion."

A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.