The Reagan Record

Four Policy Alternanvesty Growth between 1948krcesf Policy, 1981-1988~~ Policy Combined with a:ntage of GNP, 1956-1989GNP954-FY 1989tom Own Funds as a PerPercentage of GNP3ur-Person AFDC Unit andng All Persons according to8O-porate Tax Rates for TotaTotal New Plant and Equipncome for FamiliesIncome of Elderly Familiesearner Families, 1980-1984358359FOREWORD With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the United States embarkedon an experiment with domestic policies that is perhaps as significant as theNew Deal. The Reagan administration has raised fundamental questions aboutthe appropriate role of government in national life, and it has been partiallysuccessful in implementing a program---one with distinct premises abouteconomic and social behavior--that substantially alters that role. Because thisprogram and the responses to it have had such far-reaching implications forthe character of our public policies and our nation, a rigorous and impartialassessment of the record is clearly needed. The Urban Institute's Changing Domestic Priorities project was begunin early 1982 to help meet this need. The three-year research effort, madepossible by major support from the Ford Foundation and the John D. andCatherine T. MacArthur Foundation, builds on the Institute's long-standingwork in assessing the consequences of public actions. The effort has drawnon the accumulated expertise of Institute staff and other researchers, as wellas on an established tradition of objective public policy analysis. The scopeof the project has been broad, relying heavily on collaborative research across disciplines and areas of study in order to capture the interactions among, and public responses to, both the policy changes and their effects. The Changing Domestic Priorities project was designed with three ob- jectives: l. To monitor and interpret significant shifts in domestic policy 2. To determine their actual and likely consequences 3. To explore their implications and possible alternatives for further public actions The project's first book, The Reagan Experiment, was published in late 1982 under the leadership of codirectors John L. Palmer and Isabel V. Sawhill. It focused primarily on the first of these objectives and the inferences that could be drawn about consequences on the basis of events through the springXIII