The Politics of Inflation and Economic Stagnation
- ISBN-10
- 0815723679
- ISBN-13
- 9780815723677
- Category
- Political Science
- Pages
- 646
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1985-06-01
- Publisher
- Brookings Institution Press
- Authors
- Charles S. Maier, Leon Lindberg
Description
The inflation of the 1970s represented the greatest peacetime disruption of the Western economies since the Depression. Even as inflation receded, the recession in its wake brought more joblessness than at any time since the 1930s. The governments of industrialized nations found that the economic policies they had developed since World War II no longer assured price stability or high employment. What are the lessons of over a decade of economic difficulty? In this conference volume, which focuses on aspects of the crisis that economists often presuppose to be beyond control, the authors analyze the political and social underpinning of inflation and recession. Part 1 places the economic problems of the 1970s in the historical context of postwar development and then compares economic and political science analyses of inflation. Part 2 examines how rivalries between social groups affect inflationary processes. One chapter draws on the history of Latin American inflation to suggest the conflicts in play. Two others weigh the role of labor and industry in the formation of economic policy. And another shows how rivalry between countries, like rivalry between classes at home, permitted inflation to rise. The chapters in part 3 contest the claim that big government or big labor causes inflation. Two studies emphasize that a high degree of public expenditure does not itself lead to inflation. Further contributions explore the role of central banks and subject such concepts as the political business cycle to critical analysis. Part 4 comprises case studies about macroeconomic policymaking in four nations: Italy, Germany, Japan, and Sweden. The studies reveal what institutional attributes rendered those countries resistant to inflation or vulnerable to economic setback. In the last part, the editors pull together the findings and lay out the contemporary political feasibility of alternative approaches to macroeconomic management.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 1985-01-01
- 612 pages
- Paperback
- Brookings Institution Press
Similar books
-
The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence
By Robert J. SamuelsonPerhaps Galbraith's most thoughtful and eloquent successor is economist Robert Frank of Cornell University. Galbraith argued that much of modern consumption was unsatisfying and artificially stimulated by advertising.
-
Policies and Politics in Western Europe: The Impact of the Recession
By F F RidleyThis book, originally published in 1984, examines the effect of the recession of the 1980s on policy-making and policy content in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden.
-
The Politics of Inflation: A Comparative Analysis
By Committee on Atlantic StudiesThe Politics of Inflation: A Comparative Analysis
-
Japan's Policy Trap: Dollars, Deflation, and the Crisis of Japanese Finance
By Akio Mikuni, R. Taggart MurphyWhy can't the Japanese government find the political will to fix the country's problems? Japan's Policy Trap offers a provocative new analysis of the country's protracted economic stagnation.
-
The Political Economy of Inflation
By John H. Goldthorpe, Fred HirschThe Political Economy of Inflation
-
Inflation, Recession and Economic Policy
By Hyman P. MinskyInflation, Recession and Economic Policy
-
The Great Inflation: The Rebirth of Modern Central Banking
By Michael D. Bordo, Athanasios OrphanidesThis volume focuses on understanding the causes of the Great Inflation of the 1970s and ’80s, which saw rising inflation in many nations, and which propelled interest rates across the developing world into the double digits.
-
Economic Policy and the Great Stagflation
By Alan S. BlinderIn these dire circumstances Gerald Ford, a veteran Congressman who had never sought national office, was thrust into the White House. It may be that not even the wisdom of Lincoln could have unearthed a successful economic policy in ...
-
Reaganomics in the Stagflation Economy
By Sidney Weintraub, Marvin GoodsteinFor a fascinating discussion of the differences between the two concepts of equality , see Daniel Bell , The Coming of Post - Industrial Society : A Ven . ture in Social Forecasting ( New York : Basic Books , 1976 ) , pp . 408–56 . 6.
-
The Zero-Sum Society: Distribution And The Possibilities For Change
By Lester C ThurowWritten during a period of acute economic stagnation in 1980, The Zero-Sum Society discusses the human implications of economic problem solving.