Biography
John W. Diamond, Ph.D., is the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Senior Fellow in Public Finance and the senior director of the Center for Public Finance at the Baker Institute, an adjunct professor of economics at Rice University and CEO of Tax Policy Advisers, LLC. His research interests are federal tax and expenditure policy, state and local public finance, and the construction and simulation of computable general equilibrium models. His current research focuses on the economic effects of corporate tax reform, the economic and distributional effects of fundamental tax reform, taxation and housing values, public sector pensions, and various other tax and expenditure policy issues.
Diamond is co-editor of “Pathways to Fiscal Reform in the United States” (The MIT Press, 2015) and “Fundamental Tax Reform: Issues, Choices and Implications” (The MIT Press, 2008). He has testified before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, the U.S. House Budget Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, the Joint Economic Committee and other federal and state committees on issues related to tax policy and the U.S. economy. Diamond served as forum editor for the National Tax Journal (2009-2017) and on the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, U.S. Congress (2000-2004). He has also served as a consultant for the World Bank on the efficacy of structural adjustment programs.
He received his Ph.D. in economics from Rice University in 2000.
Contact at [email protected] or 713-348-2199.
Recent Publications
In Marketplace: Does Texas need its own stock exchange?
“I think it’s great because it adds competition,” said Diamond. “The financial sector, there’s enough headquartered public companies in Texas to make it make sense."
In Marketplace: Core capital goods spending on the rise in April
The rise in core capital goods spending remains a positive sign for future production and bringing inflation down, said Diamond. If the trend continues, "there won’t be as much competition for a smaller number of goods, and it’ll restrain price increases.”
In ABC13: Houston budget deficit prompts major rate and fee hikes
Taxpayers should expect substantial rate and fee increases for at least five to ten years from now amidst Houston budget shortfall according to Diamond. "We're beyond the, 'Can we afford it? Is this a good decision?' This is a, 'We're in a little bit of a crisis, and we have to do this to try to see if we can rebound.'"