Laffer curve cited directly by Laffer. For example, in 1924, Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon wrote: "It seems difficult for some to understand that high rates of taxation do not necessarily mean large revenue to the government, and that more revenue may often be obtained by lower rates". Exercising his understanding that "73% of nothing is nothing", he pushed for the reduction of the top income tax bracket from 73% to an eventual 24% (as well as tax breaks for lower brackets). Mellon was one of the wealthiest people in the United States, the third-highest income-tax payer in the mid-1920s, behind John
Contract curve the initial allocations. The analysis cannot say which particular point along the contract curve they will end up at — this depends on the two people's bargaining skills. In the case of two goods and two individuals, the contract curve can be found as follows. Here formula_1 refers to the final amount of good 2 allocated to person 1, etc., formula_2 and formula_3 refer to the final levels of utility experienced by person 1 and person 2 respectively, formula_4 refers to the level of utility that person 2 would receive from the initial allocation without trading at all, and formula_5