What Is Bidenomics? It Depends If You’re a Democrat or Republican

US President Joe Biden took a phrase animating his critics and tried to turn it into a badge of honor. He embraced “Bidenomics” as shorthand for his economic agenda, which he says will create desirable middle-class jobs in fields that will help the country in the long run. Republicans, who hope to deprive Biden of a second term, say Bidenomics is just a fancy term to justify a spending binge that’s widening the budget deficit and fueling elevated inflation.

He says it means a domestic agenda that helps middle-class Americans directly through targeted government action rather than letting benefits “trickle down” to them via the unfettered market. The chief elements in Biden’s definition are three laws he signed in his first two years: the infrastructure law that’s spurring road and bridge building; the Chips and Science Act, which subsidizes manufacturing of semiconductors inside the US; and the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes financing for clean energy projects that are supposed to create manufacturing jobs and ultimately help ease climate change. Combined, the three initiatives are expected to drive $1 trillion to $2 trillion in federal spending over a 10-year period. They’re examples of what’s known as industrial policy.