Book Review: Economics Beaurocracy and Race by Judith Russell

I recently had the pleasure of reading Economics Beaurocracy and Race by Dr. Judith Russell, whose Introduction to American Politics class I had the pleasure of taking this past semester. This book provides a highly detailed, complex analysis of the economic policies of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations that culminated in the ultimately unpopular and ineffective War on Poverty. Professor Russell argues convincingly that the problem of deep seeded persistent poverty in the United States resulted largely from structural unemployment and the inability of male heads of houses in impoverished communities to retain steady, adequately paying jobs. She therefore concludes that a major government commitment towards job training and public works programs during the 1960's could have done much to address this persistent problem of poverty. However, the Kennedy Administration elected instead to implement a major tax cut to stimulate the economy and increase aggregate demand. This tax cut was very effective in stimulating business spending and the stock market but did nothing to alleviate the persistent poverty still felt by many Americans. The Johnson Administration's subsequent war on poverty focused excessively on so-called Community Action Programs that sought to improve communities through a variety of initiatives aimed to reduce a so-called "culture of poverty" rather than directly approaching the problem of unemployment through job training and public works programs. Russell ultimately blames the failure of the war on poverty on the lack of consensus on the cause of unemployment in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, beaurocratic inefficiencies in the Labor Department, and a general lack of commitment towards alleviating poverty in poor, black communities.

Dr. Russell presents her case in a way that provides an excellent background of the economic situation in the 1960's in which structural unemployment kept certain segments of the population (mainly poor urban blacks and rural whites) from sharing in the prosperity of that time. Russell applies relatively simple economic concepts to analyze the highly complex social problem of poverty in a very interesting manner. After reading this book I understand the relationship between unemployment and poverty in much greater depth. It also helped me see how economic prosperity brought on by increased aggregate demand from tax cuts does not necessarily extend towards the lower classes and unemployed.

While Dr. Russell convinced me that certain government programs geared towards jobs could have enhanced the effectiveness of the war on poverty, I am not convinced that excessive government spending towards public works programs would have been the best decision. Dr. Russell advoctes a New Dealesue plan to address unemployment that guarantees every American the right to a job. The cost of such programs would have been extremely prohibitive and would have required a significant tax increase that would have ultimately hurt the U.S. economy. Remember that the New Deal did nothing to end the Great Depression - it only helped ease some of the suffering of those hardest hit by the Depression. Roosevelt's policies placed confiscatory taxes (approaching 100 %) on wealthy Americans that stifled investment. A massive training and public works program during the 1960's could have had a similar effect. While Professor Russell convinced me that some of the money from the Kennedy tax cut could have been better spent on job training and that jobs programs would have been more effective than Community Action Programs in fighting poverty, I cannot ultimately agree with her conclusions. Economics Beaurocracy and Race is a great read for anyone interested in applying economic concepts to social policy and people with a paticular interest in the causes of poverty and unemployment.