Reagan first term — supply-side + Volcker disinflation + defence buildup

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Early-Reaganomics programme fusing four strands: (1) supply-side fiscal — Economic Recovery Tax Act 1981 (ERTA) cut top marginal income tax from 70% to 50%, indexed brackets, and enlarged accelerated depreciation; the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act 1982 (TEFRA) partially clawed back corporate provisions when deficits widened; (2) tolerated Volcker disinflation — the Reagan administration shielded Paul Volcker politically through the 1981-82 recession (unemployment 10.8% Nov 1982) as CPI inflation fell from 13.5% (1980) to 3.2% (1983); (3) deregulation and labour discipline — firing of 11,345 striking air-traffic controllers (PATCO, August 1981) shifted the private-sector bargaining posture for a generation; continued trucking / telecoms / financial deregulation inherited from Carter; Garn-St Germain Act 1982 widened thrift powers; (4) defence buildup — real defence outlays rose ~35% 1981-1985 as share of GDP from 5.7% to 6.5%, financing the "second Cold War" posture and the Strategic Defense Initiative (March 1983). Stated school: supply- side + classical-liberal monetary credibility + peace-through-strength. Left-right axis: right-populist-coalitional — combined economic-liberal tax-cutting with socially-conservative Moral Majority coalition mobilisation. Popularity / legitimacy: Reagan won 1980 with 50.7% vs Carter 41.0% (Anderson 6.6%) and 489 EC votes; 1984 re-election 58.8% vs Mondale 40.6% carrying 49 states and 525 EC votes — one of the largest landslides in US history. House Democratic but produced a "Reagan Democrat" cross-over bloc passing ERTA and defence bills. Coherence line: trade near-term Keynesian demand management and 1970s- style incomes-policy for tax-base + monetary-credibility + labour-market- discipline, accepting a sharp 1981-82 recession and structurally widened deficit in exchange for a disinflated, growing 1983-89 economy.