Premium
The Reagan Presidency, Growing Inequality, and the American Dream
Author(s) -
Sloan John W.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
policy studies journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1541-0072
pISSN - 0190-292X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1541-0072.1997.tb00028.x
Subject(s) - presidency , reagan administration , dream , inequality , democracy , political science , politics , political economy , public administration , economic history , development economics , sociology , economics , law , psychology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , neuroscience
For reasons that are not entirely clear, indices of inequality in the United States have increased since the 1970s. Evidence indicates that the policies of the Reagan administration were not the original cause of this inequality, but it does suggest that they contributed to that trend. This essay concludes that the political skills of the Reagan presidency, combined with the residual effects of the Democratic party's failure in the late 1970s, meant that Reagan was relatively immune to liberal attacks about growing inequality.