Newswise — How much can the president influence the economy? Not as much as many people think, says Robert Whaples, professor of economics at Wake Forest University. “While politicians (especially presidential candidates) often act as if all our economic troubles can be laid at the feet of their opponents, while they will miraculously solve all our ills, it is important to realize that economic growth and unemployment trends are determined by the decisions and interactions of billions of individuals around the globe. Elected officials and central bankers can take some actions that will influence economic confidence and boost spending, but these tools take time to work and often have disappointing results.”
He says the effect of any president on economic growth is small “mainly because, despite the rhetoric, policy differences between presidents and parties in the U.S. tend to be pretty small. The debate is not over capitalism vs. communism. It’s about one shade of capitalism vs. a slightly different shade. Ironically, Whaples says, the unemployment rate among blacks has risen considerably during the first African-American president’s first year in office. “The main force behind this is probably the fact that steep recessions generally hit less educated workers the worst, and African-Americans tend to have less education than other groups.”
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