Politics and the American Economy

by Gosling, James

• ISBN13: 9780321070449
• ISBN10: 0321070445
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

One of the few books to focus on the domestic economy, Politics and the American Economy represents an up-to-date assessment of the relationship between economics and politics in the context of America's ideology and historical experience. It takes a problem-oriented approach that attracts and keeps student interest. This book gives students the tools they need to understand and weigh the significance of economic problems, appreciate the interrelationships among them, and evaluate competing policy prescriptions for solving them.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	xi
Preface	xiii
An Introduction to America's Political Economy	1	(27)
The Normative Inheritance of America's Political Economy	8	(3)
Fiscal Policy Choice and the Ascendancy of Monetary Policy for Economic Management	11	(6)
Putting Recent Economic and Political Performance in Perspective	17	(7)
Capitalism and Democracy	17	(2)
The Problem of the Noncompetitive	19	(1)
The Test of Inequality	20	(4)
Assessing the Near-Term Future for America's Political Economy	24	(4)
Managing America's Economy: Fiscal and Monetary Policy	28	(28)
Political Institutions and Economic Policymaking	31	(20)
Fiscal Policy	31	(1)
The Executive Branch	31	(4)
Congress	35	(3)
Presidential Leadership in Fiscal Policymaking	38	(8)
Monetary Policy	46	(1)
The Primacy of the Federal Reserve	46	(3)
Executive Branch Relationships	49	(1)
Congressional Oversight	50	(1)
Issues of Economic Growth and Benefit	51	(5)
Deficits and Debt	56	(25)
The Relationship between Deficits and Debt	58	(1)
Trends in Federal Debt	59	(5)
Putting Debt Levels in Perspective	61	(1)
Interest Obligation on the Debt	62	(2)
Why the Deficit Rose so Steeply, Putting America Deeper in Debt	64	(5)
The Volcker and Reagan Legacies	65	(4)
Why Worry About Deficits and Debt?	69	(4)
America's Path Toward Insolvency	69	(1)
Net Interest's Budgetary Squeeze	69	(1)
Mortgaging Our Children's Future	70	(1)
Crowding Out Credit	70	(1)
The Deficit, National Saving, and America's Reliance on Foreign Capital	71	(2)
The Benign Side of Deficits and the Debt	73	(1)
Should the Federal Government Do Whatever Is Necessary to Balance the Budget?	74	(2)
Constitutionally Requiring a Balanced Budget	75	(1)
What Should be Done with any Surpluses?	76	(1)
The Political Implications of Surpluses	77	(4)
America and the International Political Economy	81	(27)
The U.S. Trade Balance	85	(11)
Factors Affecting the U.S. Trade Balancing	87	(4)
Free Trade and U.S. Trade Relationship	91	(3)
Regionalization and the North American Free Trade Agreement	94	(2)
Foreign Direct Investment	96	(2)
International Trade, Investment, and Employment	98	(3)
Why Worry About the Trade Deficit or Foreign Investment?	101	(3)
National Saving and the Trade Deficit	102	(1)
The Contribution of Fairer Trade	103	(1)
American Ascendancy and the Fading Asian Paradigm	104	(1)
Foreign Trade Policy in an Era of American Ascendancy	105	(3)
Government Regulation	108	(31)
Problem Perception and Regulatory Policy	112	(11)
The Rise of Economic Regulation	113	(2)
The New Social Regulation	115	(2)
The Environmental Protection Agency and Environmental Protection: The Embodiment of Social Regulation	117	(6)
Deregulation	123	(11)
Telecommunications Deregulation	127	(4)
Electricity Deregulation	131	(3)
Rising Process Constraints on Regulation	134	(5)
Falling Through Capitalism's Cracks: The Needy and Government's Obligation to Them	139	(22)
Two Competing Views of Poverty and Welfare	142	(2)
The Poor in America	144	(1)
Government Assistance	145	(12)
Public Assistance	146	(1)
Cash Assistance for Families with Dependent Children	146	(3)
The Requirements of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program Placed on the States and on Recipients	149	(1)
Dependency and the Value of Work	150	(1)
Taking Issues with the Direction of Welfare Reform	151	(2)
Social Security	153	(1)
The Trust Fund: Reality or Fiction?	154	(1)
Trust Fund Financial Integrity and the Needy	155	(2)
The Squeeze on Public Assistance for Needy Families	157	(4)
Contemporary Performance and Future Challenges Facing America's Political Economy	161	(10)
Thinning Out the Policy Agenda	163	(3)
Problems and the Prospective Policy Agenda	166	(5)
Index	171