Political Economy of the United States
How have the policies of recent administrations shaped todays economy? To what extent has federal policy contributed to growth in income inequality? Why have the parties become so polarized and how has polarization influenced economic policy? This book provides an introduction to the contemporary political economy of the United States. It examines the politics of economic policymaking, the influence of federal policies and programs on the economy, and the co-evolution of politics and the economy over the past five decades. Along the way, it explains the causes and consequences of many contemporary phenomena, such as the governments deficits and debt and the ideological polarization of the parties.
The book is divided into two parts. The first half explains how Americas political economy works. It explains what the federal government does, why it does what it does, and how its policies influence the economy. The second half explains how we got here with a review of major political and economic developments since the 1970s, all the way up to the early years of the Trump Administration. This weaving together of theory and history provides both the tools and the context so that readers can properly understand the nations current-day politics and policy debates.
Joel W. Johnson is Associate Professor of Political Science at Colorado State UniversityPueblo, where he has taught since 2010. He received his doctorate in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego in 2009. His research focuses on political institutions and political economy in developed and developing democracies. His work has been published in The Oxford Handbook on Electoral Systems and journals such as Comparative Political Studies , Electoral Studies , and The Journal of Politics in Latin America .
Political Economy of the United States delivers a balanced, thorough, and lucid assessment of the complex reciprocal relationships between Americas economic and political systems. Johnsons masterful synthesis is nuanced and sophisticated but presented in a style fully accessible to undergraduates. It would make a perfect complementary reading for the introductory American politics course.
Gary Jacobson, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, University of California, San Diego
Political Economy of the United States
Joel W. Johnson
First published 2019
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To my parents
I am grateful to the many people who helped bring this project to fruition. First, I would like to thank my colleagues at Colorado State UniversityPueblo, especially those in my college and academic department who provided the resources and freedom to work on this book. In particular, I thank my fellow political scientists Gayle Berardi, Colette Carter, and Steven Liebel, who gave me constant support and good cheer while I worked on this project. I am also indebted to Grant Weller, Matt Harris, William Folkestad, Rick Kreminski, Lori Blase, and Alysse McKanna, each of whom assisted me in one form or another. The universitys support in the form of a sabbatical during the spring semester of 2017 is also much appreciated. Without that time to focus exclusively on writing and research, this book might never have been completed.
Students in my American National Politics courses at CSUPueblo read and reacted to early drafts of several chapters in this volume. I appreciate their participation in that trial phase, and their questions helped me think about how I wanted to design and write this book.
Further afield, I wish to thank all of my former political science professors, whose lessons and guidance I have routinely revisited throughout the course of this project. They continue to teach me, long after I have left their classrooms.
Three anonymous reviewers provided extensive feedback and helpful criticisms on draft portions of this book. I greatly appreciate their suggestions. I also thank my editor at Routledge, Jennifer Knerr, for her enthusiasm for the project and her expert guidance through the editing and production process.
I am extremely grateful to my parents and siblings for support and encouragement throughout my life. My mother Brenda and my father David deserve special thanks. They always encouraged my passions and pursuits, and they taught me much about tolerance, patience, and compassion. I have dedicated this book to them.
Finally, I thank my wife, Whitney Duncan, for all of her love and support. While I worked on this book, she somehow juggled her own academic projects and near full-time care of our young daughters the lights of our lives. She also helped me think through this book project, and she occasionally lent her remarkable editing skills to smooth out the rough edges in my writing. She greatly enriched this book, as she does every part of my life.
The federal governments influence on the nations economy is tremendous. Hundreds of federal agencies regulate nearly every sector of the economy, including food, finance, pharmaceuticals, and transportation. Meanwhile, the governments tax and monetary policies influence the housing market, retirement savings, business investments, and, more generally, borrowing and saving throughout the economy. At the same time, government departments spend billions on everything from agricultural subsidies and food stamps to infrastructure and technology, and they spend considerably more on items like health care and national defense. Medicare, alone, spends over $500 billion a year a sum that is on a par with the annual income of Pennsylvania to provide health care for more than fifty million senior citizens nationwide. Undeniably, the government of the United States has a profound influence on the economy in which we work and live.
Even so, that influence can be easy to underestimate or at least take for granted. Consumers rarely think about how government agencies improve the safety of products and services when they shop at the grocery store, fly on an airplane, or keep their money in a bank. And they may be unaware of how the interest rates that they pay to banks for home loans, auto loans, and education loans are affected by federal policies. Similarly, probably few of the millions of people who receive health insurance through their employers understand that those benefits owe much to the governments tax code. And how many citizens know that the market price of sugar is elevated due to government protections of sugar farmers?
