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Rationalizing Incomes Policy in Britain, 1948-1979

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  • Roger E. Backhouse
  • James Forder

Abstract

Prices and incomes policies, aimed at directly controlling the rate of growth of prices, wages and profits, were a central element in British macroeconomic policy making from the Second World War until 1979. This paper revisits the operation of such policies and the rationales offered during this period. The only argument that makes sense in terms of modern orthodox theory, that an incomes policy can lower expectations of inflation, was very rare. The rationales more often suggested related closely to the institutional details of wage bargaining in oligopolistic labour markets. Virtually no one perceived labour markets as competitive with the wage determined by the marginal product of labour. But this argument gave the policy a significant and later forgotten rationale.

Suggested Citation

  • Roger E. Backhouse & James Forder, 2013. "Rationalizing Incomes Policy in Britain, 1948-1979," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(1), pages 17-35.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/spe2013-001002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Forder, James, 2010. "Friedman’S Nobel Lecture And The Phillips Curve Myth," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(3), pages 329-348, September.
    2. G. D. N. Worswick, 1958. "Prices, Productivity, And Incomes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 246-264.
    3. Arthur M. Ross & William Goldner, 1950. "Forces Affecting the Interindustry Wage Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 64(2), pages 254-281.
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    Cited by:

    1. Calvert Jump, Robert & Kohler, Karsten, 2022. "A history of aggregate demand and supply shocks for the United Kingdom, 1900 to 2016," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Giovanni Michelagnoli, 2015. "The Shaping of Incomes Policy in the Eighties. The Contribution of Ezio Tarantelli," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(2), pages 37-56.
    3. Daniel Schiffman, 2014. "Richard Kahn and Israeli Economic Policy, 1957 and 1962," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 31-73.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B2 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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