Begging "The Rich" to Spend

Carol Platt Liebau | February 17, 2009 4:53 PM

Check out this NYT blog post by Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser, urging those with money ("the rich") to spend it in order to help revive the economy.

But wait a minute! Doesn't such advice vindicate the much-derided Reagan era theory of "trickle-down economics" -- wherein the spending by "the rich" creates jobs and wealth for those who wouldn't otherwise have them?

And if it's helpful to the economy for consumers to spend money, wouldn't it be even more helpful if more people had more money of their own to spend -- say, because they got a tax cut?