Changing perceptions of economic policy

There has never been a time when the fashions in economic policy have changed as fast and as radically as in the last few years. Changing Perceptions of Economic Policy sets these new fashions in a longer time perspective. It is a collection of papers written by some of the most eminent economists of Britain and Europe, including two former Chief Economic Advisers - Sir Alec Cairncross and Professor Sir Bryan Hopkin-and Professor James Meade, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics.

They look back over the past seventy years and try to analyse why economic policy changes. Is it merely fashion, or have the changes been in response to altering economic circumstances or to new developments in economic theory? With refreshing candour, they ask whether economists can take any credit for the post war boom-and whether they should take the blame for the failures of the 1970s.

The views of this older generation of economists are challenged in a group of short papers by younger economists and in a series of lively and stimulating discussions.