Behavioral Pragmatism: Obama's Approach to Employment Policy

Posted: 4 Nov 2011

Date Written: November 4, 2011

Abstract

However wide the ideological distance between positive and negative prognosticators of employment growth, the pragmatic center is where the White House preferences are likely to fall. Obama's pragmatic center may be far from the ideological center between public-private program alternatives. Instead, it is closer to the pressure center of partisan and interest-group forces that normally participate in fiscal policy-making. As a behavioral pragmatist the moderate position for Obama is found at the center of ideologically separated political competitors whatever the content of their beliefs, since content is relatively uncritical in this perspective. Pressure groups' numbers and organizational strength define the value of their diversity more than the substance of their beliefs. For the strong believers on both political left and right the outcomes will rarely look pragmatic because they will rarely fit the traditional standards for moderation.

Keywords: Pragmatism, employment policy, ideology, tea party

Suggested Citation

Morris, Lorenzo, Behavioral Pragmatism: Obama's Approach to Employment Policy (November 4, 2011). NCOBPS 43rd Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1954260

Lorenzo Morris (Contact Author)

Howard University ( email )

2400 Sixth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20059
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
480
PlumX Metrics