The land of too much
Subtitle: a demand-side theory of comparative political economy
By: Monica Prasad
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 327
ISBN-13: 9780674066526
Subjects: Economic policy; Social policy; Fiscal policy
Description: The Land of Too Much presents a simple but powerful hypothesis that addresses three questions: Why does the United States have more poverty than any other developed country? Why did it experience an attack on state intervention starting in the 1980s, known today as the neoliberal revolution? And why did it recently suffer the greatest economic meltdown in seventy-five years? Although the United States is often considered a liberal, laissez-faire state, Monica Prasad marshals convincing evidence to the contrary. Indeed, she argues that a strong tradition of government intervention undermined the development of a European-style welfare state. The demand-side theory of comparative political economy she develops here explains how and why this happened. Her argument begins in the late nineteenth century, when America's explosive economic growth overwhelmed world markets, causing price declines everywhere. While European countries adopted protectionist policies in response, in the United States lower prices spurred an agrarian movement that rearranged the political landscape. The federal government instituted progressive taxation and a series of strict financial regulations that ironically resulted in more freely available credit. As European countries developed growth models focused on investment and exports, the United States developed a growth model based on consumption. These large-scale interventions led to economic growth that met citizen needs through private credit rather than through social welfare policies. Among the outcomes have been higher poverty, a backlash against taxation and regulation, and a housing bubble fueled by "Mortgage Keynesianism." This book will launch a thousand debates.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The farmers' tour; title: Comparing capitalisms; title: A demand-side theory of comparative political economy; title: The agrarian regulation of taxation; title: The land of too much; title: Progressive taxation and the welfare state; title: The agrarian regulation of finance; title: The democratization of credit; title: The credit-welfare state trade-off; title: Conclusion: American mortgage Keynesianism; title: Notes; title: References; title: Acknowledgments; title: Index.