Full Employment Regained?

This book from James Meade examines the problem of full employment, a topic which has once again moved to the centre of the political debate. In a short non-technical discussion Meade suggests a novel package of changes in economic and financial policies and institutions which could be used to tackle the full employment problem. 'Have we given up trying to gain full employment?' 'If not, what should we be trying to do about it?' These are the fundamental questions that James Meade poses, and attempts to answer, in this short but timely book. As the issue of full employment moves once again to the centre of the political debate, Professor Meade draws our attention to a number of economic and financial factors which are neglected in debate, and suggests a novel package of changes which could be used to tackle the full employment problem. He condemns the neglect of macroeconomic analysis in designing full-employment policies, and asserts that the money value of total domestic production rather than the price level should be the object of a combined fiscal-monetary policy, which itself should focus on low interest rates rather than low tax rates.