What Went Right in the 1980s: A Choice Outstanding Academic Book, 1994 [Hardcover]

Richard B. McKenzie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0936488719 | ISBN-13: 978-0936488714

...after reading [McKenzie's] book, most will agree that the 1980's were not the worst of times in America. --Detroit New

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The 1980s were a decade of greed, only the rich did well, charities struggled, and deregulation flopped. That's the conventional wisdom, and it begs for an activator to stimulate debate. McKenzie does a nice job of puncturing balloons; in fact, he shows that the 1980s weren't a decade of greed at all. Charitable giving rose dramatically. Employment spiraled upward, in contrast to the daily announcements of layoffs in the 1990s. All of these arguments, and particularly the analysis of income distribution, are heavy on graphs, charts, and footnotes, giving the book credibility but also giving it an academic quality in spots. This is a book for economics-minded people who want to go deep into the numbers, but it can also be read quite comfortably by noneconomists. It is not "balanced"; rather, its design is to balance the conventional wisdom that reads another way in most texts. Also, it's not as accessible, and therefore not as good, as Robert Bartley's The Seven Fat Years and How to Do It Again (1992), but it comes close. Dennis Chase

Product Details

• Hardcover: 397 pages
• Publisher: Pacific Research Institute (October 26, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936488719
• ISBN-13: 978-0936488714
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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