About the Editors
Joseph J. Cordes is a professor of economics and public policy, public administration, and international affairs at George Washington University. Previously, he was a Brookings economic policy fellow in the Office of Tax Policy in the U.S. Department of the Treasury and served as a senior economist on the Treasury's tax reform project in 1984. He was also deputy assistant director for tax analysis at the Congressional Budget Office, a visiting fellow at the Urban Institute, and a member of the research advisory council at the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise. His current research focuses on state and local tax policy, the economics of nonprofit organizations, how public policies intended to mitigate the effects of natural hazards affect economic development, and various aspects of state and federal tax policy.
Robert D. Ebel is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Prior to joining the Urban Institute, he served as lead economist for the World Bank Institute's program on public finance, intergovernmental relations, and local financial management. He has also been the World Bank's technical representative to the Sudan peace consultations, chair of the District of Columbia Tax Revision Commission, executive director of the National Tax Association, executive director/director of special (ad hoc) state revenue study commissions, and director of finance research for the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. He has published widely and been a regular columnist for two major U.S. newspapers. Dr. Ebel received the Steven D. Gold Award and, as a member of the West Bank/Gaza team, received the World Bank President's Award for Excellence.
Jane G. Gravelle is currently a senior specialist in economic policy in the Government and Finance Division of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). She specializes in the economics of taxation, particularly the effects of tax policies on economic growth and resource allocation. Recent papers have addressed consumption taxes, dynamic revenue estimating, investment subsidies, capital gains taxes, individual retirement accounts, estate and gift taxes, family tax issues, charitable contributions, and corporate taxation. In addition to her work at CRS, she has written numerous articles in books and professional journals, including recent papers on the behavioral responses to consumption taxes and tax depreciation. She is the author of The Economic Effects of Taxing Capital Income and the editor of the Tax Expenditure Compendium, published every two years by the Senate Budget Committee. She is also president of the National Tax Association.
