Customer Reviews

The Fiscal Revolution in America: Policy in Pursuit of Reality

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Stein's is the classic account of how ideas on fiscal policy evolved up through the 1964 tax cut. Stein was a close observer for most of the period from the early 1940s through the end of his tale in the 1960s and many of his conclusions rely on his own experiences. In fact, most scholars will find this book rather thinly referenced. Stein made almost no use of primary sources other than Congressional hearings and a few documents that he had access to through friends and colleagues. Still given the postions Stein had occupied during these years, this account is indispensible for historians, political scientists, and economists.

One gripe: This edition, published in 1996 (the first edition appeared in 1969) is not really a "revised second edition" as stated on the cover. The bulk of the book is an unrevised reprinting of the first edition, with a previously published essay that brings the story up to 1994 tacked on at the end. This is a fairly common cheat with academic books: Claiming something is a second edition when it just contains a new preface or one new chapter, with the rest of the book left untouched. If you want to claim something is a "second edition" you should revise it; otherwise it is just a new printing, not a new edition.