Inflation, unemployment and the market

In this wide ranging volume of essays, selected and edited by Professor Malcolm C. Maclennan, Professor Wilson sets out his views on many of the important economic issues of the day on both the micro and macro level. He is concerned with both the theories on which economic policy may be based and with its practical implementation. Much of the material has not been previously published. All students of economics should find in this book a clear and vigorous treatment of a range of issues that are of central importance.

Professor Wilson analyses the problems of achieving recovery from depression without a resurgence of inflation and offers an assessment of recent policies in Britain. He adopts neither a strictly monetarist nor a strictly Keynesian viewpoint and can thus direct attention to points of strength and weakness in both schools of thought. He then turns to the outlook for the welfare state, its long-term needs, opportunities, and problems which are affected by changing short term cyclical conditions. The succeeding essays range over a number of related topics. The great depression of the 1930s is revisited and the possibility of a recurrence of disaster on such a scale assessed. The conditions for a successful depreciation of the currency are analysed. The view that Britain's relatively slow growth in the past can be explained by relatively greater instability is subjected to critical scrutiny. The now neglected contribution of D.H. Robertson is appraised afresh from a modern viewpoint. There is also a critical account of the theories of the rate of interest as these had developed about the time of Keynes's death when the neo-Keynesian era was beginning. The traditional theory that the right rate of depreciation of a natural resource is not satisfactory in explaining the price of oil under competitive conditions and, even with a cartel, that there are severe macroeconomic limitations is the subject of one of the essays on price theory.