Comment on the article by Jackmann and Layard

R.C. Matthews

Published on 26 July 1982

The great attraction of tax-based incomes policies is that insofar as they are successful they cause the socially desirable outcome to be an equilibrium one, compatible with the self-interested behaviour of economic agents.

<p>The great attraction of tax-based incomes policies is that insofar as they are successful they cause the socially desirable outcome to be an equilibrium one, compatible with the self-interested behaviour of economic agents. In this they differ from conventional incomes policies, under which the government seeks to hold wages and prices in check either by force or by persuading people to act against their own perceived economic interests.</p>