Two Revolutions in Economic Policy: The First Economic Reports of Presidents Kennedy and Reagan

by James Tobin

The juxtaposition of Kennedy and Reagan approaches to economic problems is particularly instructive in that they express the two major - and quite different - approaches of macroeconomic policy in the past three decades: the 1962 Kennedy Camelot which relied on traditional Keynesian economics, and the 1982 Reagan program which called for a supplyside solution to the country's economic difficulties. From today's vantage point it is useful to compare what these two different groups of economic advisors planned to do, what they did, and what the results were.

543 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 1988

About the author

James Tobin was an American economist who served on the Council of Economic Advisers and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard and Yale Universities. He developed the ideas of Keynesian economics, and advocated government intervention to stabilize output and avoid recessions.