How to Save the Underclass

Robin Marris

'This is an important question, the important question of our age. Robin Marris is often dead on target and he never lets you take the easy way out.' - Professor Robert M. Solow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 'Robin Marris has produced a highly welcome serious discussion of one of the quintessential social and economic problems of the 20th century, and shown us how the 21st century could do better.' - Michael Young, (Lord Young of Dartington), author of The Rise of the Meritocracy 'A highly enjoyable and stimulating read - a sustained feat of creative thinking.' - Bill Martin, Chief Economist, UBS Limited 'If [Mr Blair] doubts the connection between demand management and his beloved social agenda, [he] should read two highly accessible books published by distinguished neo-Keynesian economists in the past few months - Full Employment: A Pledge Betrayed by John Grieve Smith and How to Save the Underclass by Robin Marris. For anyone who wants to understand what really caused both the mass unemployment and the social dislocation of the 1980s, these two slim volumes are worthy a library-full of books about stakeholding, communitarianism and the like.' - Anatole Kaletsky - Times

• Preface - The Problem and its Causes - Education, Employment and Earnings - The Truth about the Growth Slow-down - The Significance of Trade - Meritocracy and Welfare - The Way Ahead