Government As Employer of Last Resort

Since the Employment Act of 1946 a stated policy of the United States government has been to pursue simultaneously
high employment and stable prices. However, because many economists and policymakers do not believe that it
is possible to have both high employment and stable prices, monetary policy has generally been geared, at least
for the past two decades, toward increasing unemployment as a means to achieving stable prices. Senior
Scholar L. Randall Wray demonstrates that stable prices and “truly full employment” are in fact compatible
with each other if a properly targeted employment program is used.

Working Paper No. 213(63.41 KB)