David Frantz Bradford (January 8, 1939 – February 22, 2005) was a prominent American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and professor of economics and public affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

.• Eric Quinones

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt Christopher Lehmann-Haupt (June 14, 1934 – November 7, 2018) was an American journalist, editor of the ''New York Times Book Review'', critic, and novelist, based in New York City. He served as senior Daily Book Reviewer from 1969 to 1995. Bi ...

(February 22, 2005)
David Bradford, Princeton economist and tax expert, dies,"
''News at Princeton''.
•

(February 24, 2005)
"David Bradford, 66, Economist Who Advocated Tax Reform, Dies,"
''New York Times''. Bradford was born in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. After his graduation from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

in 1960, Bradford studied at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(M.S., Applied Mathematics, 1962). In 1966 he earned his doctorate in economics from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by

in 1985. From 1991 to 1993, he served as a member of the President's

Council of Economic Advisors The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

(

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

). He had previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy in the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

(1975–1976). Bradford's research focused on

Public economics Public economics ''(or economics of the public sector)'' is the study of government policy through the lens of economic efficiency and equity. Public economics builds on the theory of welfare economics and is ultimately used as a tool to improve ...

. He was a noted authority on tax policy and taxation. A prolific writer, his published work addressed a broad range of economic issues concerning the public sector, taxation, environment, and the military.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin Douglas James "Doug" Holtz-Eakin (born February 3, 1958) is an American economist. He was formerly an economics professor at Syracuse University, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, and chief economic policy adviser to Senator John McCain ...

called him "The best tax economist.". Bradford died in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

on February 22, 2005, from burns of a house fire two weeks earlier.

Selected publications

Books * 1986. ''Untangling the Income Tax'', Harvard University Press * 1996. ''Fundamental Issues in Consumption Taxation''. AEI Press. Scroll to chapter-previe
links.
* 2000. ''Taxation, Wealth, and Saving'', MIT Press.
Description
and scroll to chapter-previe
links.
* 2004. ''The X Tax in the World Economy: Going Global with a Simple, Progressive Tax'', AEI Press. Scroll to chapter-previe
links.
Articles/Chapters * 1970 "Optimal Departures From Marginal Cost Pricing," (with

William J. Baumol William Jack Baumol (February 26, 1922 – May 4, 2017) was an American economist. He was a professor of economics at New York University, Academic Director of the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Professor Emeritus at Prin ...

) ''American Economic Review'', 60(3)), pp
265-283
(+). * 1976. "The Optimal Taxation of Commodities and Income." (with

Harvey S. Rosen Harvey Sheldon Rosen (born 29 March 1949) is an American Economist and Academic. Prior to his retirement and subsequent appointment as Emeritus Professor in 2019, Rosen was the John L. Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy at Prin ...

) ''American Economic Review'' 66(2),
p. 94
��101. * 1979. "The Case for a Personal Consumption Tax," in ''What Should be Taxed, Income or Expenditure?'', ed. Joseph A. Pechman, pp. 75–113. Brookings Institution. Reprinted at Bradford, 2000
ch. 1.
* 2004. "Generalized Cash-Flow Taxation," (with

Alan J. Auerbach Alan J. Auerbach (born in 1951) is an American economist. He is currently the director of the Robert D. Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his undergraduate degree in economics and ...

) ''Journal of Public Economics'', 88(5), pp
957–980
(press +).

References

External links

"David Bradford, Princeton Economist and Tax Expert, Dies,"
''News at Princeton'', February 22, 2005.

''New York Times'', February 24, 2005.
"David Bradford Leading Light of Tax Reform,"
AEI Online. March 9, 2005.

Google Scholar
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, David 1939 births 2005 deaths Environmental economists Amherst College alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni People from Cambridge, Massachusetts Economists from Massachusetts 20th-century American economists United States Council of Economic Advisers