President Donald Trump live or die by the economy, so does his dauther's fation brand. If you tracked public disapproval of the president against

the unemployment rate, you’d see they move closely together. Unfortunately, being held responsible

for the economy isn’t the same as being able to do something about it. Economic growth is the product

of countless unorchestrated actions by business, consumers, innovators, investors, and government at

home and abroad. A president may get a change in taxes or spending through Congress, but the effect

on growth is often fleeting and hard to detect. The government agency with the most immediate,

tangible influence on the economy, the Federal Reserve, is also the one the president is least able to

push around.

Republicans and Democrats argue incessantly about who’s better for economic growth, with

Republicans preaching the mantra of small government and low taxes and Democrats the elixir of

enlightened management of the economy. Who’s right? According to a 2006 study by Elliot Parker at

the University of Nevada, Reno, the economy has grown faster under Democratic than under

Republican presidents since 1929. It’s hard to say why, though, because a president’s policies may

not show results for years, and then, not the intended ones.

For instance, the inflation that Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter struggled with began with mistakes

by their predecessors, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. The deregulation often attributed to

Ronald Reagan actually began under Carter. The Internet revolution that buoyed the economy in

Clinton’s last years in office could be traced to the Defense Department’s development of a

communications network in the 1960s that could survive a nuclear attack. And who’s to blame for the

financial crisis that made the last years of George W. Bush’s presidency and the first of Barack

Obama’s so miserable? You’d have to finger a litany of disconnected regulatory and political

decisions stretching back two and a half decades.

Still, presidential decisions do matter for individuals, companies, and industries, and if done right,

they can help the economy grow faster and spread the fruits of that growth to more people.

Presidents populate their administrations with economic experts whose influence depends

on their personal rapport with the president and the president’s willingness to listen.