Drawing on their experience as government insiders, the authors of this book show how economic policy is shaped at the highest levels of government. They reveal the interconnections between economic, social and international policy, covering such issues as the advocacy system.

Economic Policy and the Great Stagflation discusses the national economic policy and economics as a policy-oriented science. This book summarizes what economists do and do not know about the inflation and recession that affected the U.S. economy during the years of the Great Stagflation in the mid-1970s. The topics discussed include the basic concepts of stagflation, turbulent economic history of 1971-1976, anatomy of the great recession and inflation, and legacy of the Great Stagflation. The relation of wage-price controls, fiscal policy, and monetary policy to the Great Stagflation is also elaborated. This publication is beneficial to economists and students researching on the history of the Great Stagflation and policy errors of the 1970s.

Guide to U.S. Economic Policy shows students and researchers how issues and actions are translated into public policies for resolving economic problems (like the Great Recession) or managing economic conflict (like the left-right ideological split over the role of government regulation in markets). Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the guide highlights decision-making cycles requiring the cooperation of government, business, and an informed citizenry to achieve a comprehensive approach to a successful, growth-oriented economic policy. Through 30 topical, operational, and relational essays, the book addresses the development of U.S. economic policies from the colonial period to today; the federal agencies and public and private organizations that influence and administer economic policies; the challenges of balancing economic development with environmental and social goals; and the role of the U.S. in international organizations such as the IMF and WTO. Key Features: 30 essays by experts in the field investigate the fundamental economic, political, social, and process initiatives that drive policy decisions affecting the nation’s economic stability and success. Essential themes traced throughout the chapters include scarcity, wealth creation, theories of economic growth and macroeconomic management, controlling inflation and unemployment, poverty, the role of government agencies and regulations to police markets, Congress vs. the president, investment policies, economic indicators, the balance of trade, and the immediate and long-term costs associated with economic policy alternatives. A glossary of key economic terms and events, a summary of bureaus and agencies charged with economic policy decisions, a master bibliography, and a thorough index appear at the back of the book. This must-have reference for students and researchers is suitable for academic, public, high school, government, and professional libraries.

From 1969 to 1977 the executive branch of the U.S. government was dominated by politicians and their advisers who called themselves "conservatives." In their speeches they professed belief in such values and institutions as social order, military strength, market capitalism, governmental decentralization, and traditional morality. But did these social ideas have much influence on their actual policy decisions? Or were their decisions, as some observers have argued, largely based on personal ambition, partisan interest, and pragmatic response to the day-to-day problems of government? To answer these questions, A. James Reichley examines the effects of conservative ideology on the formation of specific administration policies under the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. The policies covered include the development of detente with the Soviet Union, welfare reform, revenue sharing, resistance to "busing," the imposition of wage and price controls in 1971, and governmental reorganization under Nixon; and, under Ford, adjustment to the rise of the third world and problems with detente, the drive for decontrol of oil prices, and the fight against inflation. In the last chapter Reichley considers whether the Nixon and Ford administrations can be truly described as conservative, and suggests what the future role of conservatism in American politics is likely to be.

Interviews with ten former chairmen of the Council of Economic Advisers--from the Truman to the Carter administrations--are gathered in this book to examine the relationship between economic advisers and the president and the institutional relationships among the CEA, executive departments, and federal financial agencies. The interviews also reconstruct major presidential decisions since the establishment of the CEA, such as the 1964 tax cut, the 1971 wage and price freeze, and presidential strategies for managing inflation and recession. In a preface to each interview, the editors analyze the conditions for CEA effectiveness, look at how well the advice of the Council has conformed to the presidential world view, and pinpoint the distribution of responsibility for policy analysis and advice within successive administrations.

Geopolitics and globalization collided in the 1970s, and their collision produced difficult challenges for the makers of American foreign policy. A Superpower Transformed explains how policymakers across three administrations worked to manage complex international changes in a tumultuous era, and it explores the legacies of their efforts to accommodate American power to new forces stirring in world affairs.

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