This book, published in 1983, examines the social policies developed by the federal government in the years preceding publication. It looks at employment and income security, social services, health care, housing, social planning and citizen participation. It remains an excellent textbook or resource for historians, students and professionals interested in social development. Social Policies for the Eighties offers a vital and critical snapshot of Canadian social well-being at a crucial time in the country's history.

Is the federal budget deficit a result of congressional deadlocks, gross miscalculation of economic trends, or a Republican strategy to tie the budgetary hands of future Democratic leadership? To what extend does the partisan split between Congress and the executive branch constrain the president's agenda? In this volume, political scientists and economists tackle these and many other contentious issues, offering a variety of analytical perspectives. Certain to provoke controversy, this interdisciplinary volume brings together policy experts to provide a coherent analysis of the most important economic policy changes of the 1980s. Through a detailed examination of voting patterns, monetary and fiscal policies, welfare spending, tax reform, minimum wage legislation, the savings and loan collapse, and international trade policy, the authors explore how politics can influence the direction of economic policymaking.

First published in Washington by the President's Commission for a National Agenda for the Eighties in 1980.