Politics and Economics in the Eighties

Alberto Alesina · Geoffrey Carliner

Nov 1991 · University of Chicago Press

About this ebook

Is the federal budget deficit a result of congressional deadlocks, gross miscalculation of economic trends, or a Republican strategy to tie the budgetary hands of future Democratic leadership? To what extend does the partisan split between Congress and the executive branch constrain the president's agenda? In this volume, political scientists and economists tackle these and many other contentious issues, offering a variety of analytical perspectives.
Certain to provoke controversy, this interdisciplinary volume brings together policy experts to provide a coherent analysis of the most important economic policy changes of the 1980s. Through a detailed examination of voting patterns, monetary and fiscal policies, welfare spending, tax reform, minimum wage legislation, the savings and loan collapse, and international trade policy, the authors explore how politics can influence the direction of economic policymaking.

About the author

Alberto Alesina is the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University, and a research associate and director of the Political Economy Program at the NBER