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Extracted Text (OCR)
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
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