bq. The starting point for Ronald Reagan was the idea that people respond to incentives. The incentives that he most worried about were those provided by the tax system. According to his budget director, David A. Stockman, Mr. Reagan would regale the staff with stories of how he, as an actor, used to alter his work schedule in response to the tax code.“You could only make four pictures, and then you were in the top bracket,” Mr. Reagan would say. “So we all quit working after four pictures and went off to the country.”
bq. The great thing about Reagan’s stories isn’t that they’re true, since they usually were not, but that often it’s fun to find out where they came from…
bq. Here’s Reagan’s number of movies released, by year:
bq. 1937 2
bq. 1938 9
bq. 1939 7
bq. 1940 7
bq. 1941 4
bq. 1942 3
bq. 1947 3
bq. 1948 0
bq. 1949 4
bq. 1950 1
bq. 1951 4
bq. 1952 3
bq. Hmmm…doesn’t look quite right for four-a-year, does it?
There’s much more in Jon’s post.