Economics, Politics, and American Public Policy

264 Pages·2013·12.403 MB·English

by  James Gosling, Marc Allen Eisner

Economics,
Politics, and
American
Public Policy
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Economics,
Politics, and
American
Public Policy
Second Edition
James J. Gosling
University ofUtah
Marc Allen Eisner
Wesleyan University
Firstpublished2013byM.E. Sharpe
Published2015 byRoutledge
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LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData
Gosling,James J.
Economics,politics, andAmericanpublic policy/byJames J.GoslingandMarcAllenEisner.
2nded.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-7656-3769-7(hardcover:alk.paper)-ISBN978-0-7656-3770-3(pbk. :alk.paper)
1.United States-Politicsandgovernment-21stcentury. 2.United States-Economic
conditions-21stcentury. 3.United States-Economicpolicy-21stcentury. I.Eisner,Marc
Allen. II.Title.
JK275.G682013
320.60973-dc23 2012039090
ISBN 13:9780765637703(pbk)
ISBN 13:9780765637697(hbk)
To Connie, my loving and supportive wife
-JJG
To Patricia, Jon, and Ben
-MAE
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Contents
usr
OF FIGURES AND TABLES IX
PREFACE Xl
1.An Introduction toAmerica's Political Economy 3
2. Measuring Economic Performance 18
3. Fiscal Policy 36
4. Monetary Policy 57
5. Deficits and Debt 77
6.Americain a Global Economy 100
7. Government Regulation and Deregulation 122
8. Government and Social Provisioning 147
9. Rising Inequality and the Middle-Class Squeeze 171
10.The GreatRecession 193
GLOSSARY 223
INDEX 229
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 247
vii
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List of Figures and Tables
FIGURES
2.1 GDP by Industrial Sector: Percentage Change in Real
ValueAdded, 1980-2010 21
2.2 Personal Saving as a Percentage of Disposable Income: SelectedYears,
1960-2011 24
2.3 Change in Nonfarm Employment, 1980-2012 28
2.4 The Misery Index, 1960-2012 32
4.1 The Federal Reserve System 59
6.1 Foreign-OwnedAssets in the United States, Net Capital
Inflow, 1960-2011 106
6.2 U.S. Trade in Goods for SelectedAreas and Countries, 2011 106
6.3 U.S. Exports to China as aPercentage of Exports, 1985-2011 107
6.4 Average U.S. Tariffon Goods Subjectto Duties, 1930-2005 112
8.1 Numberin Poverty and Poverty Rate, 1959-2010 150
8.2 Poverty Rates byAge, 1959-2010 150
8.3 Welfare Caseloads, 1936-2011 153
9.1 Employee Compensation and Corporate Profits as a
Percentage of GDP, 1947-2011 173
9.2 Real Median Household Incomes by Quintile, 1967-2010 175
9.3 Change in Household Income Inequality, 1967-2010 175
TABLES
2.1 Annual Percentage Change in Real GDP, 1991-2011 21
2.2 Components of the GDP: Dollar and Percentage Shares, 2011 22
2.3 Personal Income, Disposable Personal Income, and
Personal Saving, 2011 24
2.4 U.S. National Saving and InvestmentRates: SelectedYears, 1947-2010 25
ix