Politicians win elections by promising 'Jobs Jobs Jobs ' but in practice these promises quickly fall by the wayside. The Goals of Macroeconomic Policy asks why. It begins with the observation that there is no convincing economic argument that full employment should be the primary objective of economic policy in all circumstances. In the light of this it examines whcy policy has failed so consistantly. It explains this by a theory of the labour market which shows why most workers are happy to operate in a way which militates against full employment. It then proceeds to analyse the...

Politicians win elections by promising 'Jobs Jobs Jobs ' but in practice these promises quickly fall by the wayside. The Goals of Macroeconomic Policy asks why. It begins with the observation that there is no convincing economic argument that full employment should be the primary objective of economic policy in all circumstances. In the light of this it examines whcy policy has failed so consistantly. It explains this by a theory of the labour market which shows why most workers are happy to operate in a way which militates against full employment. It then proceeds to analyse the...

Labour economics have received less attention in macroeconomics despite the fact that involuntary unemployment is a pressing policy issue. Here the imbalance is redressed by focusing on labour-demand and labour-supply relationships.