JOHN MERRIFIELD is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He co-edits the Non- Partisan Education Review and is the president of the nascent Institute for Objective Policy Assessment (www.objectivepolicyassessment.org). He earned a PhD in economics from the University of Wyoming in 1984. Professor Merrifield has authored 5 books, co-edited 3 more, and published 56 peer-reviewed journal articles and has written multiple chapters in edited volumes concerning topics as wide-ranging as education economics, urban and regional economics, environmental and natural resource economics, and public finance. BARRY POULSON is professor emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder and a visiting professor at several universities, including the University of North Carolina; Cambridge University; and Universidad Carlos Tercera, Madrid, Spain. His main area of expertise is economic development and economic history. His current focus is on fiscal policies and fiscal constitutions. He was the vice chair of the State Treasurer's Advisory Group on Constitutional Amendments in Colorado. Professor Poulson is an adjunct scholar of the Heritage Foundation and senior fellow of the Independence Institute.
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Reviews
"'A Fiscal Cliff' is precisely the right book for perilous fiscal times. Giants in economics and public policy offer a spirited defense of fiscal rules critically needed to protect our children and grandchildren from a bleak future."--Richard K. Vedder, Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus, Ohio University "The unsustainability of the federal budget is one of the nation's most pressing problems. 'A Fiscal Cliff, ' edited by two leading scholars of government budgeting in John Merrifield and Barry Poulson and featuring contributions from many of the nation's foremost experts on fiscal policy, provides this vital topic the treatment it deserves. This volume should be a guide to policymakers to implement fiscal rules that will constrain overspending and debt, ensuring the American dream for generations to come."--Matthew D. Dickerson, Policy Manager, Americans for Prosperity "This book includes a number of essays from a range of scholars who provide their personal views on the nature and scope of our fiscal challenges, lessons from others, and possible solutions. I hope this book will serve to stimulate some much needed and long overdue discussion regarding how best to put our nation's finances in order so that our future can be better than our past."--David Walker, U.S. Comptroller General, 1998-2008