Economic and Social Policies under the Reagan Administration

President Ronald Reagan brought a new circus to town in 1981. He billed it as offering never-before-seen, awe-inspiring acts of skill and daring, with demand-side management by ‘rational expectations monetarists’ and supply-side engineering by ‘new economists’, the performers in the centre ring woul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Social Policy 1983-07, Vol.12 (3), p.379-385
Main Author: Lampman, Robert J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Economic policy
Financing, Government - trends
Health administration
Public Policy
Reagan, Ronald
Social Welfare - trends
United States
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:President Ronald Reagan brought a new circus to town in 1981. He billed it as offering never-before-seen, awe-inspiring acts of skill and daring, with demand-side management by ‘rational expectations monetarists’ and supply-side engineering by ‘new economists’, the performers in the centre ring would tame inflation and usher in permanent growth. Others would increase defence expenditures while cutting taxes and balancing the budget all at one and the same time without hurting the ‘truly needy’ or weakening the legitimate ‘safety nets’ of the ‘merely seedy’. The grand finale would bring forth the problem-saving capacities of states and localities as well as private philanthropies, all of which had been ‘crowded out’, according to Reagan, by an overspending, overtaxing, over-regulating, problem-causing federal government, which had been the featured performer in previous, not very successful ‘great shows’ in Washington.
ISSN:0047-2794
1469-7823
DOI:10.1017/S0047279400012903