Pressure-group politics, and the persistent political support of large budget deficits, often undercut U.S. laws requiring federal policymakers to achieve full employment, price stability and economic growth. Even when fiscal policy has tempered the business cycle, it did so more because of unintended tax precommitments and Depression-era social legislation than because of full-employment legislation.

Jody W. Lipford is a professor of economics at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C.
Banking and FinanceBanking Law and RegulationBusiness and EntrepreneurshipEconomic PolicyEconomyFederal Budget PolicyFederal Tax PolicyFiscal Policy/DebtGovernment and PoliticsLabor and EmploymentLabor Law and RegulationLaw and LibertyTaxesTaxes and Budget
Other Independent Review articles by Jody W. Lipford
Summer 2021 A Fiscal Cliff: New Perspectives on the U.S. Federal Debt Crisis
Summer 2020 Is the Welfare State Crowding Out Government’s Basic Functions?: An Update
Spring 2018 Who Is the Forgotten Man (and Woman) on the Fiscal Commons?
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