Fiscal conservatism is a political term used in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
to describe a
fiscal policyIn economics, fiscal policy is the use of government spending and revenue collection to influence the economy.Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of economic policy, monetary policy, which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and the supply of money....
that advocates a reduction in overall
government spendingGovernment spending or government expenditure is classified by economists into three main types. Government purchases of goods and services for current use are classed as government consumption. Government purchases of goods and services intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure...
. Fiscal conservatives often consider
deficitA budget deficit occurs when an entity spends more money than it takes in. The opposite of a budget deficit is a budget surplus. Debt is essentially an accumulated flow of deficits. In other words, a deficit is a flow, and debt is a stock....
and national debt reduction as well as
balancing the federal budgetFrom a Keynesian point of view, a balanced budget in the public sector is achieved when the government equates the revenues with expenditure over the business cycles. In other words, a government's budget is balanced if its income is equal to its expenditure. It is a budget in which revenues are...
of paramount importance.
Free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
,
deregulationDeregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
of the economy,
lower taxesA tax cut is a reduction in taxes. Economic stimulus via tax cuts, along with interest rate intervention and deficit spending, are one of the central tenets of Keynesian economics.-Economic theory:...
, and other economically conservative or
neoliberalNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
policies are also often affiliated with fiscal conservatism.
The Democratic-Republican Party of
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
supported a weak central government and a more
laissez-faireThe general meaning of Laissez-faire is to allow events to take their own course, or to let people do what they choose. The term is a French phrase literally meaning "let it be" or "leave it alone"....
approach than that of
HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher...
's rival party, the Federalists.
Fiscal conservatism is a political term used in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
to describe a
fiscal policyIn economics, fiscal policy is the use of government spending and revenue collection to influence the economy.Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of economic policy, monetary policy, which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and the supply of money....
that advocates a reduction in overall
government spendingGovernment spending or government expenditure is classified by economists into three main types. Government purchases of goods and services for current use are classed as government consumption. Government purchases of goods and services intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure...
. Fiscal conservatives often consider
deficitA budget deficit occurs when an entity spends more money than it takes in. The opposite of a budget deficit is a budget surplus. Debt is essentially an accumulated flow of deficits. In other words, a deficit is a flow, and debt is a stock....
and national debt reduction as well as
balancing the federal budgetFrom a Keynesian point of view, a balanced budget in the public sector is achieved when the government equates the revenues with expenditure over the business cycles. In other words, a government's budget is balanced if its income is equal to its expenditure. It is a budget in which revenues are...
of paramount importance.
Free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
,
deregulationDeregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
of the economy,
lower taxesA tax cut is a reduction in taxes. Economic stimulus via tax cuts, along with interest rate intervention and deficit spending, are one of the central tenets of Keynesian economics.-Economic theory:...
, and other economically conservative or
neoliberalNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
policies are also often affiliated with fiscal conservatism.
Early United States
The Democratic-Republican Party of
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
supported a weak central government and a more
laissez-faireThe general meaning of Laissez-faire is to allow events to take their own course, or to let people do what they choose. The term is a French phrase literally meaning "let it be" or "leave it alone"....
approach than that of
HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher...
's rival party, the Federalists. They opposed Hamilton's plan to pay off the debts owed by the states for the expense of the American Revolution, because some of the debt was held by financiers and speculators (rather than the original holders) and because most of the debt was held by northern states. Hamilton passed his legislation and set up taxes to pay the debts (in exchange, he agreed to let Jefferson move the nation's capital to
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
). Jefferson in particular strongly opposed having any national debt, although he relented in 1803 for the sake of the
Louisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of the French territory Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
.
James MadisonJames Madison was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States , and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States....
and
James MonroeJames Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . His administration was marked by the acquisition of Florida ; the Missouri Compromise , in which Missouri was declared a slave state; the admission of Maine in 1820 as a free state; and the profession of the Monroe Doctrine , declaring U.S...
were elected by the Democratic-Republican Party, but after the fiscal disasters of the
War of 1812The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...
, they came to support most of the Federalist position, deciding the nation needed a central bank and a steady income flow from tariffs.
Mid-to-late 1800s
In the mid-1800s, a new fiscal conservative political party emerged, the
Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
. Unlike the modern fiscal conservatives, these fiscal conservatives were
paleoconservativePaleoconservatism is a term for an anti-communist and anti-imperialist right-wing political philosophy in the United States stressing tradition, civil society and anti-federalism, along with religious, regional, national and Western identity. Chilton Williamson, Jr...
supporters of
protectionismProtectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states, through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other restrictive government regulations designed to discourage imports, and prevent foreign take-over of local markets and companies...
and tariffs, similar in some ways to today's
Reform PartyThe Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded by Ross Perot in 1995 who said Americans were disillusioned with the state of politics—as being corrupt and unable to deal with vital issues—and desired a viable alternative to the...
.
They were also generally supporters of big business and (internally) laissez-faire economics, although by 1890 they had been convinced into supporting Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the
Interstate Commerce CommissionThe Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland...
following massive complaints.
Early 20th century
In the early 1900s fiscal conservatives were often at odds with
progressiveProgressivism is a political and social term for ideologies and movements favoring or advocating changes or reform, usually in a statist or egalitarian direction for economic policies and liberal direction for social policies...
President
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
, particularly for his support of
antitrustUnited States antitrust law is the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are designed to encourage competition in the marketplace....
laws.
During the 1920s President
Calvin CoolidgeJohn Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state. His actions during the Boston Police Strike of 1919 thrust him into the...
's pro-business economic policy were credited for the successful period of economic growth known as the "Roaring Twenties." His actions, however, may have been due more to a sense of federalism than fiscal conservatism:
Robert SobelRobert Sobel was an American professor of history at Hofstra University, and a well-known and prolific writer of business histories...
notes that "[a]s Governor of Massachusetts, Coolidge supported wages and hours legislation, opposed child labor, imposed economic controls during World War I, favored safety measures in factories, and even worker representation on corporate boards."
Reagan era
Fiscal Conservatism was rhetorically promoted during the presidency of
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
(1981-1989). During Reagan's tenure, income tax rates of the top personal
tax bracketTax brackets are the divisions at which tax rates change in a progressive tax system . Essentially, they are the cutoff values for taxable income — income past a certain point will be taxed at a higher rate.-Example:Imagine that there are three tax brackets: 10%, 20%, and 30%...
dropped from 70% to 28% in 7 years, while payroll taxes increased as well as the effective tax rates on the lower two income quintiles. Real
Gross Domestic ProductThe gross domestic product or gross domestic income is a basic measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year...
(GDP) growth recovered strongly after the 1982 recession and grew during Reagan's remaining years in office at an annual rate of 3.4% per year, slightly lower than the post-
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
average of 3.6%. Unemployment peaked at over 10.7% percent in 1982 then dropped during the rest of Reagan's terms, and inflation significantly decreased. Federal tax receipts nearly doubled from $517 billion in 1980 to $1,032 billion in 1990. A net job increase of about 16 million also occurred (about the rate of population growth).
According to a
United States Department of the TreasuryThe Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
non-partisan economic study, the major tax bills enacted under Reagan, as a whole, significantly reduced (~-1% of GDP) government tax receipts. The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 was a massive (~-3% of GDP) decrease in revenues (the largest tax cuts ever enacted). By the end of Reagan's second term the national debt held by the public ballooned from 26 percent of the GDP in 1980 to 41 percent in 1989. By 1988, the debt totaled $2.6 trillion, due in part to both increased military spending at the end of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
and according to some, the tax cuts. The country owed more to foreigners than it was owed, and the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation.
Clinton era
While fiscal conservatism is most common among
RepublicansThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
and
LibertariansThe Libertarian Party is a United States political party founded on December 11, 1971.In the 30 states where voters can register by party there are over 200,000 voters registered with the Libertarian Party, making it one of the largest of America's alternative political parties...
, it is also common among many centrist or moderate Democrats who often refer to themselves as "
New DemocratsIn the politics of the United States, the New Democrats are an ideologically centrist faction within the Democratic Party that emerged after the victory of Republican George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election. They are identified with more center-right social/cultural positions and...
". Former President
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
, who was a New Democrat and part of the fiscally conservative
Third WayThe Third Way is a term that has been used to describe a political position which attempts to transcend left-wing and right-wing politics by advocating a mix of some left-wing and right-wing policies. Third Way approaches are commonly viewed as representing a centrist compromise between capitalism...
advocating
Democratic Leadership CouncilThe Democratic Leadership Council is a non-profit 501 corporation that, upon its formation, argued the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it took in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s...
, is a prime example of this as his administration along with the Republican majority congress led by former
Speaker of the HouseThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The current Speaker is Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat representing California's 8th congressional district....
Newt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. In 1995, Time magazine selected him as the Person of the Year for his role in leading the Republican Revolution in the House, ending 40 years of the...
(which created the
Contract with AmericaThe Contract with America was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign. Written by Larry Hunter who was aided by...
document that required such things as
balancing the budgetFrom a Keynesian point of view, a balanced budget in the public sector is achieved when the government equates the revenues with expenditure over the business cycles. In other words, a government's budget is balanced if its income is equal to its expenditure. It is a budget in which revenues are...
, providing the president with a
line-item vetoIn government, the line-item veto is the power of an executive to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually budget appropriations, without vetoing the entire legislative package...
, and a
reform of the welfare stateThe Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 is a United States federal law considered to be a fundamental shift in both the method and goal of federal cash assistance to the poor. The bill was a cornerstone of the Republican Contract With America and was introduced...
), signed the
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) into law as well as the
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 was passed by the 103rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It has also been referred to as the Deficit Reduction Act of 1993...
which cut government spending, created a 36% individual income tax bracket, raised the top tax bracket, which encompassed the top 1.2% earning taxpayers, from 31% to 39.6%, and created a 35% income tax rate for corporations. In addition to this however, taxes were also cut for fifteen million low-income families, and made available to 90% of small businesses. The top capital gains
tax rateA capital gains tax is a tax charged on capital gains, the profit realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset that was purchased at a lower price. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals and property...
would later be lowered from 28% to 20% and the 15% bracket lowered to 10% with the passing of
Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 reduced several federal taxes in the United States.Subject to certain phase-in rules, the top capital gains rate fell from 28% to 20%. The 15% bracket was lowered to 10%....
. With the passing of the
Budget Enforcement Act of 1990The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 was enacted by the United States Congress as title XIII of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 to enforce the deficit reduction accomplished by that law and revise the budget control process of the Federal Government...
(part of the
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 is a United States statute enacted pursuant to the budget reconciliation process to reduce the United States federal budget deficit....
), the first
PAYGOPAYGO is a term used to refer to financing where budgetary restrictions demand paying for expenditures with funds that are made available as the program is in progress.-Budgeting:...
(pay-as-you-go) rules were enacted for the purpose of reducing the massive
deficitA budget deficit occurs when an entity spends more money than it takes in. The opposite of a budget deficit is a budget surplus. Debt is essentially an accumulated flow of deficits. In other words, a deficit is a flow, and debt is a stock....
that had grown during the Reagan and Bush years, and balancing the budget for the first time in decades. Very popular among
deficit hawkDeficit hawk is an American political slang term for those who place great emphasis on keeping the federal budget under control. Deficit hawks are fiscal conservatives that believe the best way to reduce the deficit, pay off national debt, and balance the budget is by increasing taxes in addition...
s, the system requires that all increases in direct spending or revenue decreases be offset by other spending decreases or revenue increases. The PAYGO system was used regularly throughout the Clinton years.
After the implementation of this fiscally conservative bipartisan effort, the United States was able to reduce the $5.7 trillion national debt by $360 billion and create the largest federal budget surplus ($236 billion in fiscal year 2000) as well as the longest period of sustained
economic growthEconomic growth is a term used to indicate the increase of total GDP. It is often measured as the rate of change of gross domestic product . Economic growth refers only to the quantity of goods and services produced; it says nothing about the way in which they are produced...
in United States history.
Modern fiscal conservatism
Modern fiscal conservatives remain wary of
government spendingGovernment spending or government expenditure is classified by economists into three main types. Government purchases of goods and services for current use are classed as government consumption. Government purchases of goods and services intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure...
. They believe strongly in
free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
and are committed to lowering the
federal budgetFederal budgets are the national budgets of federations, including:* Federal budget * Federal budget * Federal budget * Federal budget * Federal budget...
, paying off national debt, and acquiring a
balanced budgetFrom a Keynesian point of view, a balanced budget in the public sector is achieved when the government equates the revenues with expenditure over the business cycles. In other words, a government's budget is balanced if its income is equal to its expenditure. It is a budget in which revenues are...
. Where fiscal conservatism gets more diverse in ideals is what steps should be taken to balance the budget.
Deficit hawkDeficit hawk is an American political slang term for those who place great emphasis on keeping the federal budget under control. Deficit hawks are fiscal conservatives that believe the best way to reduce the deficit, pay off national debt, and balance the budget is by increasing taxes in addition...
s are more willing to increase taxes in addition to cutting spending to balance the budget than
libertariansLibertarianism is a term adopted by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which advocate the maximization of individual liberty and the minimization or even abolition of the state...
, who want to "
starve the beast"Starving the beast" is a fiscal-political strategy of some American conservatives to use budget deficits via tax cuts to force future reductions in the size of government. The term "beast" refers to government and the programs it funds, particularly social programs such as welfare, Social...
" by cutting taxes for the purpose of decreasing tax revenue which they hope will cause the government to spend less, and
supply-sidersSupply-side economics is a school of macroeconomic thought that argues that economic growth can be most effectively created using incentives for people to produce goods and services, such as adjusting your income tax and capital gains tax rates, and by allowing greater flexibility by reducing...
, who believe the best way to gain tax revenue is through deep across-the-board
tax cutA tax cut is a reduction in taxes. Economic stimulus via tax cuts, along with interest rate intervention and deficit spending, are one of the central tenets of Keynesian economics.-Economic theory:...
s that they believe will end up completely paying for themselves through the
economic growthEconomic growth is a term used to indicate the increase of total GDP. It is often measured as the rate of change of gross domestic product . Economic growth refers only to the quantity of goods and services produced; it says nothing about the way in which they are produced...
they cause.
American businessman, politician, and current
Mayor of New York CityThe Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The Mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
,
Michael BloombergMichael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. He was listed as the eighth-richest American, with a net worth of US $16 billion, in the Forbes 400 on September 17, 2008, making him the richest resident of New York City, ahead of David H. Koch...
, considers himself a fiscal conservative and expressed his definition of the term at the 2007
United Kingdom Conservative PartyThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
Conference.
--Michael Bloomberg
Australia
Fiscal Conservatism in Australia contains the same basic principles as in the US. In the 2007 federal election campaign, it was a key topic. PM Kevin Rudd stated that fiscal conservatism included budget surpluses, and maintaining the independence of the RBA, to ensure the continuation of its inflation targeting regime.
See also
- Anarcho-Capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism is an individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and the elevation of the sovereign individual in a free market...
- Balance of payments
In economics, the balance of payments, measures the payments that flow between any individual country and all other countries. It is used to summarize all international economic transactions for that country during a specific time period, usually a year.The BOP is determined by the country's...
- Balance of trade
The balance of trade is the difference between the monetary value of exports and imports of output in an economy over a certain period. It is the relationship between a nation's imports and exports...
- Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
- Citizens Against Government Waste
Citizens Against Government Waste is 501 non-profit organization in the United States. It functions as a think-tank, 'government watchdog', and advocacy group for fiscally conservative causes...
- Concord Coalition
The Concord Coalition is a political advocacy group in the United States, formed in 1992. A bipartisan organization, it was founded by former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman, former Secretary of Commerce Peter George Peterson, and the late U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas. The Concord Coalition's advocacy...
- Democratic Leadership Council
The Democratic Leadership Council is a non-profit 501 corporation that, upon its formation, argued the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it took in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s...
- Economic Freedom
Economic freedom is a term used in economic research and policy debates. As with freedom generally, there are various definitions, but no universally accepted concept of economic freedom...
- Economic Liberalism
Economic liberalism is the economic component of classical liberalism. It is the political and economic philosophy that supports and promotes the economic system of capitalism, in the laissez-faire sense...
- Market economy
A market economy is economy based on the division of labor in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system set by supply and demand....
- Minarchism
In civics, minarchism refers to a political ideology which maintains that the state's only legitimate function is the protection of individuals from aggression...
- Republican Main Street Partnership
The Republican Main Street Partnership is a group of moderate members of the United States Republican Party. They tend away from the dominant social conservatism of many Republicans and towards fiscal conservatism and limited government. The group is the rough equivalent of the Blue Dog Democrats...
- Right-wing politics
In politics, right-wing, political right, rightist and the Right are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for preserving traditional or cultural values and customs or for maintaining some form of social hierarchy or private...
Further reading
- Barber, William J. From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the economists, and American economic policy. Cambridge University Press. (1985)
- Beito, David. Taxpayers in revolt: Tax resistance during the Great Depression. University of North Carolina Press. (1989)
- Brownlee, W. Elliot. Federal taxation in America: A short history. Cambridge University Press. 1996.
- Kimmel, Lewis. Federal budget and fiscal policy, 1789-1958. Brookings Institution Press. 1959.
- Left, Mark. 1983. Taxing the "forgotten man": The politics of Social Security finance in the New Deal. Journal of American History 70 (September): 359-81. online in JSTOR
- Morgan, Iwan W. Deficit government: Taxing and spending in modern America. Ivan Dee. 1995.
- Sargent, James E. "Roosevelt's Economy Act: Fiscal conservatism and the early New Deal." Congressional Studies 7 (winter 1980): 33-51.
- Savage, James D. Balanced budgets & American politics. Cornell University Press. 1988.
- Herbert Stein. Presidential Economics, 3rd Edition: The Making of Economic Policy From Roosevelt to Clinton (1994)
- Julian E. Zelizer; "The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism and the Roosevelt Administration, 1933-1938." Presidential Studies Quarterly. 30#2. (2000). pp 331+. online
External links