The United States since 1980

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Tables......Page 11
Preface......Page 13
Acknowledgments......Page 15
1 Turning Away: The United States Breaks Ranks......Page 17
Changing the Ground Rules and Tilting the Field......Page 19
The United States and the Other Rich Countries: 1980 and 2005......Page 21
Trends in Wage Inequality......Page 22
Unionization Rates......Page 24
Noneconomic Measures of Well-Being......Page 26
Productivity, Employment, and Output......Page 35
Labor, Leisure, and the Environment......Page 42
The United States Goes Its Own Way......Page 44
Freeing Some Trade, Protecting Some Workers......Page 45
Immigration and the Supply of Labor......Page 49
Labor-Management Policies......Page 51
Federal Reserve Board Policy......Page 53
Industry Deregulation and the Minimum Wage......Page 55
Tax and Transfer Policy......Page 57
The End of the Postwar Golden Age......Page 60
The United States and the World in the Post-Vietnam Era......Page 64
The Economic Crisis of 1979–1980......Page 72
3 The Reagan Revolution: Running to the Right......Page 76
The 1980 Election......Page 77
The General Election......Page 80
The Reagan Economic Agenda in Action......Page 81
Reagan and the Unions......Page 84
The Federal Reserve Board and Inflation......Page 87
Social Welfare Protections......Page 89
Reagan and Social Policy......Page 91
Environmental Policies in the Reagan Years......Page 96
Reagan and the World......Page 97
The United States and Central America......Page 100
The Middle East......Page 103
Terrorism and Grenada......Page 106
Politics in the Reagan Era......Page 108
Tax and Spending Policy in the Later Reagan Years......Page 113
4 The Reagan Revolution Becomes Institutionalized......Page 116
U.S.-Soviet Relations in the Late Reagan Years......Page 120
The 1988 Presidential Campaign......Page 122
The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe......Page 125
The Winding Down of Conflicts in Central America......Page 127
The First Iraq War......Page 130
The Collapse of the Soviet Union......Page 135
Trouble at Home......Page 137
The Battle over the Supreme Court......Page 139
The Rodney King Incident......Page 141
The 1992 Election......Page 143
The Early Clinton Years......Page 145
The Battle over NAFTA......Page 147
Striking Out on Health Care......Page 149
5 The Republican Tidal Wave and the Clinton Boom......Page 152
Clinton and the Republican Congress: Triangulation......Page 154
The 1996 Election......Page 158
The Clinton Boom Takes Off......Page 159
Politics in the Second Clinton Administration......Page 166
The Impeachment Scandal......Page 168
Foreign Policy in the Clinton Years......Page 170
The War over Kosovo......Page 175
The 2000 Election......Page 178
The Long Florida Count......Page 180
6 The Bush Administration and the War on Terrorism......Page 184
The September 11 Attack......Page 187
The Buildup......Page 193
The War......Page 196
The Economy in the Bush Years......Page 199
The Buildup to the 2004 Election......Page 204
The Drive to Privatize Social Security......Page 208
The Rest of the Second-Term Agenda......Page 210
Demographics......Page 218
The Status of Women......Page 223
The Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities......Page 229
The Status of Gay-Lesbian Rights......Page 234
Trends in Religious Practices......Page 237
The Media in the Internet Age......Page 239
Major Trends in Health......Page 243
America and the World......Page 245
Epilogue: Different Directions, Missed Opportunities......Page 253
Bibliography......Page 261
Index......Page 272