An examination of the future of economic policy in the next millennium, assessing the reasons for the shift to a more sceptical view of the role of government given the power of the financial markets and the impact of globalization. These contributions from within the political economy tradition emphasise the important lessons from the past about the varieties of forms of capitalism, the importance of public institutions and public policy and the limitations of the rival laissez-faire approach. The dangers of an unregulated and powerful financial sector for the real side of the economy are a particular focus of attention. Proposals to rectify the shortcomings of financial markets and shift the focus of policy to a greater concern for the poor and excluded are put forward. The message to the economic policy-makers of the future is that markets perform valuable economic and social functions, but perform these better when appropriately regulated and controlled.

PHILIP ARESTIS is Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of East London. He was editor of the British Review of Economic Issues and is joint editor of the recently launched International Papers in Political Economy. He is an elected member of the Council of the Royal Economic Society. His many publications include Introducing Macroeconomic Modelling(co-author); Post-Keynesian Monetary Economics (editor); Post-Keynesian Economic Theory (co-editor); The Biographical Dictionary of Dissenting Economists; The Elgar Companion to Radical Political Economy; Keynes, Money and the Open Economy; Post-Keynesian Economics and the History of Economics, Markets, Unemployment and Economic Policy; Money, Pricing, Distribution and Economic Integration. He has published widely in journals and books in Post Keynesian Economics, Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics and Applied Econometrics. MALCOLM SAWYER is Professor of Economics and Head of the Economics Division at the University of Leeds, and formerly Professor of Economics at the University of York. He is the author of several books including Macroeconomics in Question, The Economics of Michal Kalecki, The Challenge of Radical Political Economy and Unemployment, Imperfect Competition and Macroeconomics. He is the managing editor of International Review of Applied Economics, joint editor of the recently launched International Papers in Political Economy, and editor of the series New Directions in Modern Economics. He has recently co-edited The Biographical Dictionary of Dissenting Economists and The Elgar Companion to Radical Political Economy.