The Effects of the New Economics on the American Policies 1952 to 1968
The New Economics got off to a slow start after Keynes wrote the "General Theory." The public and the administrations held to the old classical approach of using monetary policies to stabilize the economy and bring about full employment and economic growth. The Truman Administration began in the hottest point of World War II. The country was enjoying full employment. His Employment Act of 1946 is considered the Magna Carta of the new economics in action. His administration was characterized by inflation, and the latter part by the Korean Conflict. The Eisenhower Administration used more of the classical approach in an attempt to solve the problems of economic stability. His administration used monetary policies which caused many ups and downs of the business cycle. This instability was caused by the administration's attempt to balance the budget. The dynamics of the Neo-Keynesian Economics came with the beginning of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. These two administrations were dominated by fiscal policies with more emphasis on full employment, stable prices, and economic growth than on balancing the budget. This paper is a comparative study of the old classical philosophy which was used during the Eisenhower Administration, with the new economics philosophy of the Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson Administrations, in attempting to solve the problems of full employment, stable prices, and economic growth. The scope is limited to the Democratic and Republican Administrations since World War II.