American Economic Policy in the 1980s

The American economy in the 1980s was characterized by a lowering of personal taxes and inflation, spiraling government debt, decreased spending on domestic programmes, and the sharpest post-World War II recession, followed by nearly eight years of strong economic growth. In this study, policymakers in the Reagan administration and academics offer a view of how and why economic policy in the 1980s developed the way it did. The author comments on aspects of policy with which he was closely involved as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (1982-1984): monetary and exchange rate policy, tax policy and budget issues. Feldstein offers his judgments on these policies and illuminates the policy strategies of the 1980s. The following 11 chapters deal with a variety of domestic and international issues, including developments in regulation and antitrust, as well as monetary, trade, tax and budget policies.