Boskin Gives the Reagan Administration Too Much Credit for Gains of the 1980s
Regarding the Oct. 10 story, “Michael Boskin: Key Economist in Bush’s camp”:
It is hard for me to believe that Boskin actually said that “the economic policies of Dukakis threaten a return to the high-tax, slow-growth climate of the pre-Reagan era.”:
Reason: The rate of growth of the gross national product in the 32 “high-tax” years that preceded Reagan was not slow, but much faster than under Reagan: an average of 3.8% a year from 1948 through 1980 versus 2.6% from 1980 to 1988. (Source: 1988 Economic Report of the President)
ROBERT B. PETTENGILL
Raleigh, N.C.
The writer is emeritus professor of economics at the State University of New York at Albany.
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