Reagan's second-term innovations on

Reagan's second-term innovations on currency and monetary affairs, trade, debt and development. Reagan advanced a new international system to match the revival of capitalism after the oil shocks and stagflation of the 1970s. America's success in the 1980s contributed both to the end of the Cold War, by persuading the Soviet Union it could not keep up, and to two decades of exceptional global growth. The new U.S. international economic strategy should have five parts. First, this country should strengthen its continental base by building on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. Together, the three partners could boost energy security, improve productivity, and give North Americans an edge in manufacturing and other industries that are already experiencing rising wages in East Asia. A politically acceptable immigration policy, and a push for educational innovation using new technologies and competition, could lead to a more prosperous, populous, integrated and democratic future for the hemisphere. Second, the extraordinary monetary policies of late, led by the Federal Reserve's continued near-zero interest- rate policy, are taking us into uncharted territory. Central banks have tried most every tool to stimulate growth; if Japan is HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029824