Political economy of prosperity

The 1960s witnessed almost nine years of sus tained growth, rising employment, and expand ing investment. This record of prosperity re flected in part the contribution of professional economists, who had come to play an increas ingly important role in the shaping of domestic policy. This book explores the areas of agree ment and disagreement among economists in their policy recommendations to the U.S. gov ernment and reviews the experience with sta bilization policy in the sixties. It explains the nature and influence of the "new economics" and discusses the causes of the inflation that blemished the economic record. It also consid ers questions of national priorities in the uses of economic growth and the role of the federal government in determining economic policies, and suggests a strategy for future policy to sus tain prosperity in combination with essentially stable prices.

Arthur M. Okun participated in many of the debates and innovations that characterized the political economy of the sixties. Now a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, he served for nearly six years as senior economist, then as a member, and finally as chairman of the Presi dent's Council of Economic Advisers. Most of the ideas in this book were first presented in April 1969 as the Crawley Memorial Lectures at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of Pennsylvania. Other speak ers in this distinguished series have included Ralph Bunche, John F. Kennedy, Gunnar Myr dal, Madame Dijaya Pandit, and Nelson Rocke feller.