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Lather,the argument, especially as it is capable of being conducted among non- economists, is pretty simple: During the Carter Administration, there was the anticipation of stagflation for the foreseeable future. Reagan came in with an economic program, and got key elements of it passed. While that was kicking in, we underwent a recession, which helped to squeeze out inflation. After the recession, we had an enormous boom, with a brief, 7 month interlude of recession after the Gulf War, and then a return to a boom, long before any Clinton policies kicked in, and, in fact, in the absence of any notable success by Clinton in making policy, aside from following through on the inherited commitments to finish NAFTA and GATT, for which he deserves credit. All of this occurred despite dire predictions by Democratic economists about the results of "Reagonomics". While it is certainly true that we have benefited from the computing revolution, and from the malaise of some of our trade rivals, the immediacy, longevity, and robustness of the revival suggests that a key factor was setting in place pro- market policies.... |
