How Did Reagan's Economic Policies Affect The Economy

When Ronal Reagan took office the economy was at a low with high interest rates and inflation at the highest since the 1940s. Reagan vowed to cut taxes, increase defense spending, and balance the budget. President Reagan’s economic policies would come be known as Reaganomics. He promised to protect programs such as Medicare and Social Security while cutting the outlays for social programs by targeting waste, fraud, and abuse (National Archives and Records Administration, n. d.). Reagan’s policies were based on supply-side economics where tax cuts for the wealthy and business would trickle down to the poor. This would be accomplished by lower inflation, lower taxes and a smaller government to boost productivity and growth (Blanchard, 1987).