The supply-side approach in the United States

Abstract

"Reaganomics is composed of as many divergent currents as any other theoretical (or political) position and I shall not pretend to the (impossible) task of constructing a coherent theoretical basis for the current economic policy of the United States government. Rather I shall try to identify four basic propositions which seem to motivate the present administration's economic policy decisions. I shall presume that you recall the strong international criticism (especially from Europe) of the economic policies of the Carter administration (1977-80) which underlies the current administration's presumption of the imperative nature of domestic economic recovery as a prior to international concerns. It is an unchallenged cornerstone of Reaganomics that eliminating inflation and restoring strong output and employment growth at home by re-establishing competitive free market capitalism is the only way to improve conditions in the international economy, irrespective of its shorterm effects on either Europe or the underdeveloped countries. Before presenting the four principles (in section II), it will first be necessary to provide an intuitive defintion of what is generally meant by the terms 'Supply-side' and Reaganomics in Section I. Section III summarises the policies that have grown out of these propositions and assesses their success, while the final section attempts some general conclusions on the Reagan experiment." (Author's abstract) ((en))

Cite article

Kregel, J. (1984): The supply-side approach in the United States. Reaganomics. In: F. Buttler, J. Kühl & B. Rahmahn (Hrsg.) (1984): Staat und Beschäftigung : Angebots- und Nachfragepolitik in Theorie und Praxis (Beiträge zur Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, 88), p. 101-138.