Geoff Harcourt and Economic Policy: Horses for Courses?

Geoff Harcourt was a renowned economist and political activist who made a significant contribution to public policy, particularly in his home country of Australia. As a leading contributor to post-Keynesian theory, he believed a capitalist economy would not create full employment without significant...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The economic and labour relations review : ELRR 2023-03, Vol.34 (1), p.15-25
Main Authors: Green, Roy, Harcourt, Tim, Junankar, PN (Raja)
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arbitration
Capitalism
Economic growth
Economic policy
Employment
Full employment
Keynesian theory
Labor market
Labor parties
Labor unions
Mediation
Political activism
Political appointments
Prices
Productivity
Public policy
Tariffs
Wage & price controls
Wages & salaries
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Summary:Geoff Harcourt was a renowned economist and political activist who made a significant contribution to public policy, particularly in his home country of Australia. As a leading contributor to post-Keynesian theory, he believed a capitalist economy would not create full employment without significant policy intervention. On the labour market, he devised an approach to wage bargaining that integrated fairness with productivity growth in the context of Australia’s unique institutions of conciliation and arbitration. On tariff protection, he was agnostic, preferring a more proactive industry policy grounded in post-Keynesian principles and drawing on his early work on accounting theory and practice. His economic advice to the Australian Labor Party (ALP) Committee of Inquiry in 1979 refocused policy debate around the role of incomes policy, which became the centrepiece of the Hawke-Keating Government’s Accord with the trade union movement.
ISSN:1838-2673
1035-3046
1838-2673
DOI:10.1017/elr.2022.4