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Book Cover
E-book
Author Hibbs, Douglas A., 1944-

Title The American political economy : macroeconomics and electoral politics / Douglas A. Hibbs, Jr
Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1987

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Description 1 online resource (xiii, 404 pages) : illustrations
Summary Here is the most comprehensive and authoritative work to date on relationships between the economy and politics in the years from Eisenhower through Reagan. Extending and deepening his earlier work, which had major impact in both political science and economics, Hibbs traces the patterns in and sources of postwar growth, unemployment, and inflation. He identifies which groups "win" and "lose" from inflations and recessions. He also shows how voters' perceptions and reactions to economic events affect the electoral fortunes of political parties and presidents. Hibbs's analyses demonstrate that political officials in a democratic society ignore the economic interests and demands of their constituents at their peril, because episodes of prosperity and austerity frequently have critical influence on voters' behavior at the polls. The consequences of Eisenhower's last recession, of Ford's unwillingness to stimulate the economy, of Carter's stalled recovery were electorally fatal, whereas Johnson's, Nixon's, and Reagan's successes in presiding over rising employment and real incomes helped win elections. The book develops a major theory of macroeconomic policy action that explains why priority is given to growth, unemployment, inflation, and income distribution shifts with changes in partisan control of the White House. The analysis shows how such policy priorities conform to the underlying economic interests and preferences of the governing party's core political supporters. Throughout the study Hibbs is careful to take account of domestic institutional arrangements and international economic events that constrain domestic policy effectiveness and influence domestic economic outcomes. Hibbs's interdisciplinary approach yields more rigorous and more persuasive characterizations of the American political economy than either purely economic, apolitical analyses or purely partisan, politicized accounts. His book provides a useful benchmark for the advocacy of new policies for the 1990s--a handy volume for politicians and their staffs, as well as for students and teachers of politics and economics
Analysis United States Economic policies Political aspects, 1953-1984
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-395) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Business cycles -- Political aspects -- United States
Elections -- United States.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Economic Policy.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Government & Business.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Development -- Economic Development.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Development -- Business Development.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Structural Adjustment.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Development -- General.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- General.
Business cycles -- Political aspects
Economic history
Economic policy
Elections
Economische politiek.
Macro-economie.
Verkiezingen.
Elections -- Etats-Unis.
Cycles économiques.
SUBJECT United States -- Economic policy -- 1981-1993. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh92006369
United States -- Economic conditions -- 1981-2001. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140027
Subject United States
Etats-Unis -- politique économique -- <1981- ...>
Etats-Unis -- conditions économiques -- <1981- ...>
Form Electronic book
LC no. 87000155
ISBN 9780674038639
0674038630
0674027361
9780674027367