The Troubled American Economy — An Institutional Policy Analysis

This essay is concerned with the long, slow slide of the U.S. economy, which began in the 1970s and which, it is argued, will continue unless extraordinary measures are taken to reverse it. I am not concerned with the business cycle and with the monetary and fiscal policies that push the economy into or out of a business recession. I am concerned with a series of institutional and environmental developments that are drags on the economy. I explore these developments in depth to ascertain how they reduce economic performance. I find that the philosophy of extreme individualism that has come to dominate the social and political landscape has accentuated the economic drags and increased their negative effects. I outline the content of extraordinary measures that must be taken to reverse the long, slow slide of the U.S. economy.