My sister asked me:
What were the Major Economic News Stories 1978-1984?
My answer:
1. The 1979 Iranian revolution, which led to soaring oil prices
afterward, especially when it turned into the Iraq/Iran war.
2. This encouraged stagflation in the US, meaning high inflation
combined with rising unemployment. (This added to the pre-existing
stagflation and encouraged Jimmy Carter to talk about a "malaise.")
3. The Three Mile Island disaster of March 1979.
4. The appointment of Paul Volcker to run the Federal Reserve in
August 1979 led to a new anti-inflationary tilt for policy and started
the movement toward Calvin Coolidge Capitalism ("the business of
America is business") we've seen growing since then.
5. There was a short-lived recession in 1980, aimed at fighting
inflation. This was not very successful. When added to the Iran
hostages debacle, it helped chase Carter out of office.
6. The bank reform legislation of 1980 (Depository Institutions
Deregulation and Monetary Control Act) and 1982 (Garn-St. Germain)
which allowed the Savings & Loan sector to do a lot of new things,
setting the U.S. up for the S&L debacle of the late 1980s.
7. There was a short recovery, followed by the long and deep recession
of July 1981 to November 1982, which got us up to above 10%
unemployment in from September 1982 to June 1983 (peaking at 10.8% in
Nov.-Dec. 1982). As usual, the job situation stayed bad even after the
recession officially ended.
8. The Reagan tax cuts, mostly for the rich, during 1981-83.
9. There was the beginnings of a recovery, starting about 1984.
This list is mostly about macroeconomics, but I hope it helps.
----------------------
Can any pen-pals suggest additions to (or subtractions from) this list?
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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