The economic policy proposals of the joint economic committee of the 94th and 95th U.S. congresses, 1975 through September of 1978

Abstract

The economic policy propcsals of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress from 19’3 through September 1978 are a mixed bag. They have not changed a great deal since those of 1971 through 1974.’ They contain excellent proposals for reform of inequities in our Federal tax system, for reduction of barriers to international trade, for floating exchange rates with a float that is clean at least in the long run, for revising the income tax so that its real burden is independent of inflation, for the use of temporary budget stimulus during depressions, for including the off-budget agencies in the Federal budget, against international agreements to put a floor under the price of gold or of oil, and against another bout of wage and/or price controls. They contain unworkable proposals intended to reduce inflation and unemployment, whose effect at best would be the continuation of our present rate of inflation with no improvement in unemployment, and at worst would be only a temporary improvement in unemployment followed by stepped-up inflation. This review of the recent economic policy proposals of the Committee is organized as follows. The remainder of this section lists the members of the Committee and some of its senior staff during the period, and describes the format of the Joint Economic Reports and the Midyear Reviews of the Economy. Section 2 discusses the Committee’s macroeconomic policy proposals. Section 3 discusses the Committee’s other economic policy proposals. Section 4 is a brief summary and conclusion. Table 1 lists the Committee membership, by house of Congress and by party, for 1975-78. It also lists, some of the senior staff members.