Laffer Curve Napkin
date: label: date made
content: 1974-09-14
notes: label: Description
content: In 1974 economist Art Laffer sketched a new direction for the Republican Party on this napkin. Displeased with President Gerald Ford’s decision to raise taxes to control inflation, four men got together at a Washington, DC restaurant to think about alternatives. Laffer was joined by journalist Jude Wanniski and politicians Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Laffer argued that lowering taxes would increase economic activity. Wanniski popularized the theory, and politicians Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney carried it out.
label: Description
content: The cloth napkin was taken as a souvenir by Jude Wanniski. The napkin reads “If you tax a product less results/If you subsidize a product more results./We've been taxing work, output and income and subsidizing non-work, leisure and un-/employment./The consequences are obvious!” with an image of the laffer curve in the middle. The bottom of the napkin reads To Don Rumsfeld/at our Two Continents/Rendezvous/ 9/13/74/Art B. Laffer"
place: label: place made
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Production and Manufacturing
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Patricia Koyce Wanniski
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2013.0041.01
label: catalog number
content: 2013.0041.01
label: accession number
content: 2013.0041
objectType: label: Object Name
content: napkin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 15 in x 1/8 in; 38.1 cm x 38.1 cm x .3175 cm