E-Book Overview
The seemingly ever rightward tilting fiscal policies of both USA & UK continued from their beginnings under Thatcher and Reagan, emerging victorious from the theoretical challenges of the Clinton and Blair regimes to a position of perhaps unassailable strength today.
I really enjoyed reading this book, which charts the fiscal policy convergence on both sides of the atlantic. It often pays off to read something like this to remind yourself just how much things have changed since 1979.
The writing quality surprised me the most, having expected a dry, arid description of fiscal policy, I was delighted to find that the book was lucidly written in a fairly accessible style that meant it was finished and ready to be re-read after a day or so - always a good sign!
E-Book Content
Fiscal Policy Convergence from Reagan to Blair
Ideas drove the convergence of American and British and conservative and New Left approaches to a restrained fiscal policy in the era of neo-liberalism. Ravi Roy’s and Arthur Denzau’s compelling, elegant, and concise argument makes us think about the likely course of divergence in policy approaches in an era of unrestrained fiscal policy and counter-terrorist warfare. This book speaks to core concerns of specialists, and will be a source of intellectual pleasure for the interested general reader. Peter J. Katzenstein Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies, Cornell University It is often assumed that left-of-center governments in the US and Britain support policies that would lead to ever-increasing public spending and higher taxes. Right-of-center governments, by way of contrast, are expected to support policies that reduce public spending and lower taxes. These characterizations were reinforced with the advent of Reaganomics and Thatcherite economic policy in the 1980s. The elections of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair in the 1990s paradoxically saw the consolidation and completion of critical aspects of the Reagan–Thatcher fiscal agenda, a process that Fiscal Policy Convergence from Reagan to Blair critically analyzes. It has previously been thought that the process of adopting common fiscal policies was caused by economic integration and globalization, but this book reveals a much more comprehensive explanation—and one that includes domestic factors. Whether fiscal policy conversion is seen as a good or bad occurrence, this book will unite both left and right to better explain the process. Students and academics of international political economy, public policy and politics will find this book a good addition to their reading lists. Ravi K. Roy is Visiting Research Fellow at the Claremont Institute for Economic Policy Studies, USA. Arthur T. Denzau is Economics Department Chair and Dean of the School of Politics and Economics at the Claremont Graduate University, USA.
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