ECONOMIC EVENTS,IDEAS,AND POLICIES THE 1960S AND AFTER

The 1960s represented a turning point in the application of economic analysis to U.S. policymaking. The decade was marked by widespread optimism that government policies could improve economic and social outcomes. Developments since then illustrate how policies can shift, along with changes in the environment, changes in theory and understanding, or changes in dominant values.The papers in this volume are taken from a November 1999 conference: Economic Events, Ideas and Policies: The 1960s and After. Sponsored by Yale University and the Brookings Institution, the conference was held in memory of economist Arthur Okun.Okun, along with George L. Perry, founded the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity and its journal, the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. A former professor of economics at Yale University and chairman of the President&#39