JUSTICE AND ECONOMIC POLICY: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF REAGANOMICS

A new period of profound change in American economic policy began with Ronald Reagan's election to the presidency in 1980. This dissertation analyzes the ethical implications of the economic program of the Reagan administration.;The impact of Reaganomics touched every area of the economy and most aspects of public life. Reaganomics promoted a series of fundamental changes in investment, tax, fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policies. The administration significantly shifted the economic policies and national priorities of the nation. The Reaganomics agenda combined supply-side economics, budget-balancing economics, and monetarist economics into a comprehensive program based on their common preference for limited government involvement in the economy. The Reaganomics program called for tax-cuts, a balanced budget, extensive cuts in social welfare expenditures, a significant escalation in military spending, a tight monetary policy, labor market regimentation, and deregulation of the economy. The dissertation examines the impact of the administration's economic policies on the economy and the various income groups within American society.;The dissertation argues that the health of the economy and the human priorities of the nation are best served by an economic program based on the primary norms of justice. Recognition of basic human needs should take precedent over the centralization of wealth and special privileges, increased human participation over the excessive concentration of power, and the recognition of human dignity over the drive for private profit. A commitment to justice on the part of the government would assure citizens that benefits and burdens are shared equally and allocated fairly. The true purpose of economic policy should be the promotion of human well-being, participation, and dignity.;The goal of economic policy should be to provide for a fair and balanced distribution of benefits and burden within the nation. Numerous principles of justice have been utilized to evaluate economic policies. These principles can be reduced to two areas of economic justice: productive justice and distributive justice. A theory of justice must recognize both productive and distributive principles of justice are grounded in three primacy norms for evaluating economic policies: meeting basic human needs, increasing economic participation, and recognizing the human dignity of people. The Reaganomics policies are evaluated in the dissertation according to these primary norms.