Truman's Council of Economic Advisers and the Economic Growth Controversy

Abstract

The paper places ideas of Truman's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) concerning economic growth into historical perspective. It discusses responses of contemporary economists to ideas of Truman's CEA. It compares ideas of Truman's CEA with views of recent CBAs. Truman's CEA argued that sustained economic growth should be a primary objective of economic policy. Many contemporary economists did not agree with the following idea of Truman's CBA: emphasis on expanding consumption while reducing saving, advocacy of keeping monetary policy in a straitjacket, and efforts to deal with imperfect competition through exhortation and selective wage-price controls. (B2, 865)