Economic Policy

Abstract

The origins of postwar economic policy and the institutional structures for making economic policy in the United States can be traced back to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s efforts to revive the American economy during the ‘Great Depression’. The collapse of the economy in the late 1920s and its devastating impact upon society was a condition that demanded action, but there were no structures or leaders in place for meeting this demand before Roosevelt took office as President in 1933. In the course of his first Administration he effected a series of dramatic reforms in the management of the economy. The Securities and Exchange Commission was established to regulate the securities market, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was set up to guarantee bank deposits, unemployment compensation was enacted, minimum wage laws were passed, numerous public works programs were established to provide temporary relief for many unemployed people, and social security transfer payments were provided for the first time to the elderly. A vast salvaging operation was thereby begun to reform the management of the economy in order to promote economic recovery.