Jeffrey Alan "Jeff" Miron (; born January 31, 1957) is an 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 ...

. He served as the chairman of the Department of Economics at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

from 1992 to 1998, and currently teaches at Harvard University, serving as a Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Harvard's Economics Department. Miron holds the position of Director of Economic Policy Studies at the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...

Biography

Miron is an outspoken

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

. He was one of the 166 economists to sign a letter to congressional leaders in opposition to the bailout plan put forth by the U.S. federal government in response to the

financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

. He advocated that those companies that floundered during the crisis should be

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

instead of receiving government help. He has proposed three policy reforms to help the US economy recover from the financial crisis: cutting entitlements, freezing regulation, and replacing the existing tax code with a

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressiv ...

on consumption. Miron has also spoken out against the

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...

, arguing that it is economically unfeasible and will increase the US deficit; instead, he suggests limiting government intervention is the best way to lower overall health care costs and make health care accessible to the most people. He has studied the effects of drug criminalization for 15 years, and argues that all drugs should be legalized. He supports open borders, arguing that the United States should impose "no immigration restrictions at all." He opposes

foreign intervention Interventionism refers to a political practice of intervention, particularly to the practice of governments to interfere in political affairs of other countries, staging military or trade interventions. Economic interventionism refers to a diff ...

s because "they cost far more than initially acknowledged while failing to help either America or the target countries." Miron, Jeffre
"Miron:A case for the libertarian"
''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

''. July 17, 2014.

Writings

* * * *

References

External links

Miron at Harvard University Department of Economics
*

– discussing the benefits of legalizing marijuana from an economic perspective (March 27, 2010). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miron, Jeffrey 1957 births Living people 20th-century American economists 21st-century American economists American libertarians Boston University faculty Cato Institute people Economists from Michigan Harvard University faculty Libertarian economists Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Non-interventionism People from Detroit Swarthmore College alumni