The President as Economist: Scoring Economic Performance from Harry Truman to Barack Obama

(Hardback)

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Description

This book provides evaluations of American presidents over the course of 66 years of U.S. economic history, using quantitative data to provide credible, defensible answers to controversial questions like "Whose economic policies were more effective, Ronald Reagan's or Bill Clinton's" The President as Economist: Scoring Economic Performance from Harry Truman to Barack Obama provides eye-opening insights about matters of critical importance for the future of the United States. Author Richard J. Carroll tackles a topic that he has researched and been focused on for more than 20 years, providing impartial assessments and rankings of each presidential administration according to numerous key performance indicatorsquantitative data, not subjective opinions. The final chapter combines all of the data to present a numeric score (Presidential Performance Index-PPI) for each administration that allows an overall ranking of the 11 presidents. The analysis covers 66 years of U.S. economic history, ranging from 1946 through 2011. The earlier administrations of Harry S. Truman through Jimmy Carter set the context against which more recent presidencies are judged. This title will be an invaluable resource for everyone from general readers to students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels, as well as journalists, lobbyists, and anyone directly or indirectly involved in the political process.

Reviews

In an election year, a simple measure for evaluating the economic performance of US presidents is alluring. This effort updates the author's earlier work, An Economic Record of Presidential Performance: From Truman to Bush (CH, Jul'96, 33-6402). Carroll's evaluation method is simple but subjective. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. * Choice *

Author Bio

Richard J. Carroll, MA, MBA, is an economist, evaluation specialist, and financial analyst who has published several books and articles about the U.S. economy that cover a range of issues focusing on lessons for current policy. His published works include Praeger's An Economic Record of Presidential Performance: From Truman to Bush and NewsGuides Top 10 Issues 2011An Economic Guide to the Top Issues Facing the United States.