INSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR FULL-EMPLOYMENT IN ADVANCED ECONOMIES

Mass unemployment reappeared in industrial countries in the 1980s and heads the policy agenda today. Its presence threatens the social fabri c, the stability of democracies, even the international trading system . Countering the prevailing view that unemployment cannot be significa ntly reduced, the author recalls the Golden Age of full employment in the 1950s and 1960s, arguing that it was the outcome of a new developm ent model which reflected a carefully designed strategy involving majo r institutional innovation. After examining the causes of its demise, he concludes that the Golden Age holds major lessons for the restorati on of full employment.