Join me Wed. Oct. 5th for a conversation with economist Tor Dahl about work he has been doing examining economic growth in the last century. He says in a recent paper:
“There are many variables that affect growth, including war and peace, unemployment and inflation, education and health, savings rate and innovation, technology and recessions. But it seems that politics has been underestimated as a factor in economic growth. Politics does exert ideological pressure on economic policy, and the data appear to show that liberal-leaning policies have an advantage over conservative policies when we examine their effects on economic growth in the United States over time.”
The paper begins with following observation:
“Economists tend to reflect past experience when applying economic policy measures in their recommendations. That experience is unique to every economic situation. But economists do not formulate and implement economic policy—politicians do. Recent political debates indicate that conservatives tend to favor a laissez-faire type of economics, less interventionist and more critical of government. Liberals tend to favor a broader role for government and often intervene actively when there is unemployment or when economic growth and the safety net are adversely affected. It might be useful to review the experience of conservative and liberal policies in regard to economic growth as we discuss strategies of recovery from a deep and prolonged recession.”
That’s what we will be talking about. So listen in at 6pm, Wed. Oct. 5th on KYMN 1080AM. Or on line at kymnradio.net