Supply-side policies - introduction
In this section you studt the following topics in detail:
- The role of supply-side policies
- Interventionist supply-side policies
- Market based supply-side policies
- Evaluation of supply-side policies
A Short history of supply-side policy
From 1945 until the mid-1970s, Keynesian fiscal policy (Demand Management) was the major instrument of government economic policy in most countries around the world.
The Phillips curve represented the observed inverse relationship
between the rate of unemployment and the rate of inflation in an
economy. In other words, the lower the level of unemployment in an
economy, the higher the rate of inflation (and vice-versa). This
observed relationship had underpinned many governments' macroeconomic
policies since the 1950s.
However, while this trade off appeared to exist in the
short-run, the relationship broke down in the long-run. In the early
1970s, 'stagflation', occurred in many countries, which
was the simultaneous increase in inflation and unemployment; a
situation that Keynesian economists believed was not possible.
As a result, the use of monetary policy to
achieve macroeconomic goals (prioritising inflation) became widespread,
and has dominated government policies in major economies since the
1970s. The 'radical right', or monetarists, in the USA particularly
(although similar moves were happening in Europe), suggested that
concentration on the demand-side of the economy was untenable and that
governments should focus instead on supply-side
policies to create greater flexibility in the economy to react to
changes in aggregate demand. Monetarist policies came to dominate
government economic approaches to controlling inflation coupled with a free-market approach
for unemployment in most developed economies: with a growing importance
placed on the use of interest rates to fine tune economic development.
The debate moved away from Keynesian policies to arguments over the nature of supply-side policies and whether these should be more or less interventionist in nature as both liberals and conservatives embraced policy measures focusing on increasing aggregate supply.
However, it should be noted that many governments reacted to the
financial crisis of 2007 - 2010, by using traditional Keynesian
approaches to stimulate aggregate demand, in face of opposition from
Monetarists who saw these policies as inevitably inflationary in the
longer-term. eg Obama stimulus package starting 2008
Read the following articles and reflect on the reaction of governments around the world to the financial crisis of 2007-2010, and why did so many governments revert to policies that appear to be Keynesian in nature?