Laffer curve led to federal budget surpluses. The Republican party, which was then based in the protectionist industrial Northeast, argued that cutting rates would lower revenues. But the Democratic party, then rooted in the agricultural South, argued tariff reductions would increase revenues by increasing the number of taxable imports. In 2012, economists surveyed by the University of Chicago rejected the viewpoint that the Laffer Curve's postulation of increased tax revenue through a rate cut applies to federal US income taxes of the time in the medium term. When asked whether a "cut in federal income tax rates in the US right now
Optimal foraging theory shown as a curve of energy gain per time spent in a patch (Figure 3). The curve starts off with a steep slope and gradually levels off as prey becomes harder to find. Another important cost to consider is the traveling time between different patches and the nesting site. An animal loses foraging time while it travels and expends energy through its locomotion. In this model, the currency being optimized is usually net energy gain per unit time. The constraints are the travel time and the shape of the curve of diminishing returns. Graphically, the currency (net energy gain per