THE MISERY INDEX—REAGAN’S LUCK?

THE MISERY INDEX—REAGAN’S LUCK? As is frequently done, the link in today’s other post attributes the statistics for the economy to a President as soon as he is inaugurated. This can’t be right. Assuming that it takes a year for a President’s policies to affect the economy does not affect the beginning of Carter’s Presidency; the Misery Index declined during his first year. But the Misery Index dropped during the first year of Reagan’s Presidency from 19.72 to 16.52 in February of 1982. Should this drop be attributed to Carter? I think that the ending of stagflation was recognized at the time as the biggest success for Reagonomics. It has received less attention in recent years, as stagflation was forgotten. I posted earlier about Reagan’s luck. Was the success with stagflation another example of Reagan’s luck?