Distinguished Panel to Discuss We Are Better Than This

Edward Kleinbard's book is a "must-read," according to critics

By Gilien Silsby

A distinguished panel of leading economists and tax scholars is convening at USC Thursday, Dec. 4, to discuss USC Gould Prof. Edward Kleinbard’s critically acclaimed book, We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spent Our Money.

Alan Auerbach, a UC Berkeley professor; and one of the country’s most highly regarded public finance economists, Joseph Bankman, a leading tax law scholar at Stanford, and Edward McCaffery, a USC law, economics and political science professor, are headlining the event, which will be held at USC’s Bashor Lounge in Heritage Hall at 12 p.m. (Click here to RSVP.)

“I am humbled and thrilled that these eminent individuals were willing to invest the time to discuss my book,” said Kleinbard, the Ivadelle and Theodore Johnson Professor of Law and Business.

Kleinbard, an internationally recognized tax scholar, published the groundbreaking book in October. We Are Better Than This has received high praise in publications ranging from the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times. Fortune Magazine called Kleinbard a “prolific, witty, and effective polemicist whose new book is a must-read for anyone who wants to be educated about taxes and social policy.”

Kleinbard joined USC Gould in 2009, after serving as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan tax resource to Congress. Previously, Kleinbard worked for two decades as a partner in the New York office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

His leading-edge scholarship has received praise both inside and outside the legal academy. Kleinbard was recently called “a rock star in the world of tax law” by New York Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson and “a superstar tax practitioner, policy advisor and scholar,” by Larry Summers, Harvard University President Emeritus and former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

USC Gould Dean Robert K. Rasmussen called Kleinbard “one of his generation’s leading tax attorneys in the world.”

“Ed Kleinbard’s career is unparalleled,” Rasmussen said. “His book is a must-read for anyone studying policy, history, politics or economics.”

Greg Keating, USC Gould Vice Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs, adds “Ed Kleinbard’s book is a deeply meditated, and bold proposal for addressing the rising tide of economic inequality in America. We Are Better Than This deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21^st Century. Together with Piketty, Kleinbard is putting inequality back at the center of American political discourse.”