Back to Full Employment

In Back to Full Employment, a short new book written for general readers, PERI Co-Director Robert Pollin advances a progressive agenda for overcoming the employment crisis in the U.S. today, and for creating a sustainable full employment economy over the long run. The book addresses the issues of government deficits, Federal Reserve policy, and the inflation/unemployment trade-off; the pressures from globalization, immigration and international trade; and the imperative of building a green economy. Pollin also discusses alternative theories of mass unemployment, including those of Marx, Keynes, Friedman and Kalecki. He argues that the biggest obstacle to creating a full-employment economy are political, not technical. Ending the prevailing neoliberal opposition to full employment will require an epoch-defining reallocation of power away from big business and Wall Street and toward the middle class, working people, and the poor, while mounting a strong defense of the environment.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1
The Centrality of Full Employment

Chapter 2
Is Full Employment Possible Under Capitalism?

Chapter 3
Globalization, Immigration, and Trade

Chapter 4
Digging Out of Recession

Chapter 5
Building a Sustainable Full Employment Economy

Chapter 6
If Not Now, When?

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