# Jude Wanniski Jude Wanniski (1936–2005) was the American journalist who **named and popularized supply-side economics**. From the *Wall Street Journal*'s editorial page in the mid-1970s, Wanniski took the technical work of [[Art Laffer]] and [[Robert Mundell]] on tax incentives and built a coherent political-economic doctrine out of it: that tax-rate reductions on capital and high incomes produce growth-led revenue gains, and that the late-1970s stagflation crisis was not (as Keynesians argued) an unsolvable supply shock but the predictable result of bracket creep and over-taxation. Wanniski's 1978 book *The Way the World Works* was the **manifesto** of the supply-side movement. He coined the term "supply-side economics" itself (in a 1975 *[[Public Interest]]* essay) and was the relentless popularizer who carried Laffer's napkin curve into actual Republican policy. He helped recruit Jack Kemp to the supply-side cause in 1976 and worked closely on the Kemp-Roth tax cut bill that became the model for Reagan's 1981 [[Economic Recovery Tax Act]]. For the Right Wing KB, Wanniski is the **rhetorical engine of the supply-side revolution** — the writer who turned an economic argument into a political program. After leaving the Wall Street Journal in 1978 he ran Polyconomics, a consulting firm that advised corporate clients and Republican politicians; in his later years he became increasingly heterodox (defending Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat, accusing the Bush administration of dishonesty about Iraq), and he died estranged from the movement he had built. ## Biography **Jude Thaddeus Wanniski** was born **June 17, 1936** in **Pottsville, Pennsylvania** — a coal-region town in the heart of working-class Pennsylvania. He earned a **B.A. in political science and journalism** from **UCLA** (1959) and worked as a reporter and editorial writer for several publications before joining the ***Wall Street Journal*** editorial page in **1972**. ## Wall Street Journal Years (1972–1978) Wanniski joined the ***Wall Street Journal*** under editorial-page editor **Robert Bartley** — the partnership that would build the WSJ editorial page into the most influential platform for supply-side economics. From 1972 to 1978, Wanniski used his WSJ perch to translate the technical work of [[Art Laffer]] (the [[Laffer Curve]] — the proposition that beyond a certain point, higher tax rates reduce rather than increase revenue) and Columbia economist **Robert Mundell** into a coherent political-economic doctrine. Wanniski coined the term **"supply-side economics"** in a **1975 essay** in ***The Public Interest*** (the [[Irving Kristol]] / Daniel Bell neoconservative quarterly) — giving the movement its name and its political-marketing identity. ## *The Way the World Works* (1978) Wanniski published ***The Way the World Works*** in **1978** — the supply-side movement's **manifesto**. The book argued that the history of economic growth and stagnation could be explained primarily through changes in marginal tax rates and trade policy — that high tax rates suppress economic activity and low rates unleash it. The book's audacious scope (claiming to explain everything from the Roman Empire to the [[Great Depression]] through tax-rate analysis) made it both influential and controversial. ## Jack Kemp and the Kemp-Roth Bill Wanniski was instrumental in **recruiting Congressman Jack Kemp** (R-NY) to the supply-side cause in **1976**. Kemp, a former NFL quarterback, became the congressional champion of tax-rate reduction, co-sponsoring the **Kemp-Roth Tax Cut Act** with Senator William Roth (R-DE) — a bill proposing 30% across-the-board marginal income-tax-rate reductions. The Kemp-Roth framework became the basis for **Ronald Reagan's Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981** (ERTA), the legislative centerpiece of Reaganomics. ## Polyconomics (1978–2005) Wanniski left the WSJ in **1978** to found **Polyconomics** — a consulting firm that advised corporate clients and Republican politicians on supply-side economic strategy. The firm gave Wanniski a platform for continued influence on Republican tax policy while freeing him from editorial constraints. ## Late-Life Heterodoxy In his later years, Wanniski became **increasingly heterodox** — breaking with mainstream Republican positions on several issues. He defended **Saddam Hussein** (arguing against the [[Iraq War]]), met with **Yasser Arafat**, challenged the Bush administration's case for WMDs in Iraq, and criticized neoconservative foreign policy. These positions estranged him from the conservative movement he had helped build. He was effectively read out of the supply-side establishment by the time of his death. ## Death Wanniski died on **August 29, 2005** at age **69** in Morristown, New Jersey. ## KB Significance Wanniski is the **rhetorical engine of the supply-side revolution** — the journalist who coined the term, wrote the manifesto, recruited the congressional champion (Kemp), and used the WSJ editorial page to convert an economic theory into a Republican governing program. The Wanniski → Kemp → Reagan → 1981 ERTA pipeline is the most consequential single journalist-to-legislation influence chain in modern American economic-policy history. His late-life heterodoxy and movement estrangement illustrate the pattern of movement-founding intellectuals being discarded by the political operations they built. ## See Also - [[Supply-Side Economics]] - [[Art Laffer]] - [[Trickle-Down Economics]] - [[Ronald Reagan]]