On Economics, Dole Turns to Stanford Scholar

WASHINGTON — It was early last week, as a high-stakes policy debate swirled around Bob Dole, that the Republican presidential candidate summoned an unassuming Stanford economist named John B. Taylor to his campaign jetliner for a flight out of Long Beach.

“I said, ‘John, would you mind flying back with me so we can sort of wrap up my economic plan?’ ” Dole recalled Monday. “He’s still with me. . . . He’s worked night and day, and I really am grateful for his efforts.”

In Chicago on Monday, as Dole unveiled the details of an economic plan that he hopes will re-energize his bid for the presidency, Taylor was at his side, lending his scholarly respectability to a proposal that already has sparked political fireworks.

Silver-haired and bespectacled, Taylor, 49, is a former member of George Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors and a highly regarded authority on mainstream economic theory. He is a native of Westchester County, N.Y., the author of successful textbooks and head of a Stanford policy center that has thrived under his leadership.

Friends and colleagues invariably describe him as popular with students--one of whom has been Bob Dole. Taylor has helped coordinate scholarly advice for Dole and is believed to have advocated for the across-the-board tax cut that Dole ultimately proposed.

“He’s a very measured, low-key person who explains himself extremely well,” said Robert Reischauer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former head of the Congressional Budget Office.

Academics who venture out of the ivory tower and into the policy arena sometimes find the experience bruising. Yet Taylor has kept his reputation intact, while defending his candidate in a decidedly non-flamboyant manner.

His straightforward, respectful style was much on display Monday morning, as the Dole campaign brought forward such senior advisors as Donald H. Rumsfeld and George P. Shultz, to brief reporters on the plan.

While Taylor’s associates seemed a bit impatient with repeated, sometimes pesky questions, the economist fielded them calmly.

In one exchange for example, a reporter kept insisting--over the objections of the Dole camp--that the plan had elevated the goal of tax cuts above Dole’s long-cherished goal of a balanced budget.

“So it’s tax cuts first and foremost,” the reporter demanded.

“It is not tax cuts first and foremost,” Taylor replied evenly. “It is balance the budget and tax cuts.”

Taylor has won plaudits at Stanford for helping turn around the Center for Economic Policy Research. The center has been a place on campus to highlight real-world economic issues, such as the flat tax and growth.

Taylor’s own expertise is in the broad topics of economics, such as prices, wages and growth, as well as monetary policy, set by the Federal Reserve Board, and budget and tax issues. He holds degrees in economics from Princeton and Stanford.

While complex, macroeconomic issues can be abstract and intimidating to some, Taylor believes that economics is a way to make a real difference for people. “What I like about it is that you’re finding ways to affect people and improve lives,” he said Monday.

In the coming days, Dole may need to draw further on Taylor’s expertise, because the plan Taylor helped author is expected to draw criticism for relying on assumptions some have questioned and on future spending decisions by Congress.

Times staff writer Edwin Chen contributed to this story.