ABSTRACT

First published in 1987. This fascinating study provides an understanding of the failings of the post-war era of active macroeconomic policy-making, and only by a better comprehension of past failings can we hope to provide the successful policies for the present and future. The book takes as its primary bench mark an analysis of Keynes’s conception of the wages problem at or near full employment in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. It then depicts the developments in official thinking and policy with regard to this problem as the confidence in Keynesian principles waxed and waned over the period.

chapter 1|5 pages

Introduction

chapter 4|14 pages

Wages Policy and the Attlee Governments

chapter 5|18 pages

Thirteen Years of Tory Economic Policy

chapter 6|18 pages

The Wilson Governments 1964–70

chapter 8|19 pages

Labour and the Social Contract 1974–9 *

chapter 9|15 pages

The Era of Thatcherism 1979—

chapter 10|13 pages

Conclusions