Government Spending and Budget Deficits in the 1980s: A Personal View

This paper, which was written as part of the NBER project on American economic policy in the 1980s, examines the changes in government spending and budget deficits during the decade. The paper analyzes why the deficit increased substantially and looks at the policy options for reducing the deficit that were considered. The paper discusses the period when the author was a member of the Administration in greater detail than other years in the 19805 and seeks to explain why the policy choices evolved as they did.