Reacting to an article by Sir Bryan Hopkin in the previous (Winter) issue of "Economics," the author maintains that it is misleading to debate whether the level of real wages causes unemployment and criticizes the use of time series data to support such arguments. Uses data from the United Kingdom and several other countries to…

Maintains that the level of real wages is not an obstacle to the achievement of full employment. Covers such topics as aggregate demand and supply, the argument about inflationary pressures, the open economy, and real wage objectives in responding, point by point, to the arguments noted by Ms. Levancic. (JDH)

Contends that unemployment is an example of market failure. Argues that explaining unemployment from this supply-demand approach is preferable to the traditional explanation that high "real wages" are the cause. Reveals that many prominent economists entered the field because of their concern for the social problems caused by…