The economy

We no longer know what to do with our economy. Will lowering taxes on the wealthy increase incomes and employment or simply enrich the wealthy? Do welfare programs and income supports assure well-being and meet our obligations to our fellow citizens? Or do they weaken the incentives to work and save, incentives that underpin prosperity?

Underlying such questions as these are broader uncertainties that motivate political debate and strain the social fabric, questions that have to do with the place of the economy in the larger social order. Does our economy work best when attended to least? Should management of economic affairs be more firmly attached to public ends and explicit strategies for achieving them?

Bill Clinton began his presidential campaign with a proclamation of faith:

Adam Smith, writing in 1776, also believed in the power of market forces and that encouraging economic growth was the best way of securing employment. But he did not share Clinton's conviction that a national economic strategy was needed to secure economic growth and prosperity.

The debate over the best means to secure the growth of wealth has raged more or less continuously for more than two hundred years.