The papers published in this book were presented and dis cussed on occasion of the celebration of Albert Kervyn de Lettenhove's retirement on 29-30 May 1986. This conference was made feasible through the participation of a large au dience and the generous financial support of the Commission of the European Communities. The sessions were organised under three topics, as are the papers in this book. The first session, chaired by Massimo Russo, Director-General, Commission ofthe European Com munities was devoted to an evaluation of past and current debates of central macro-economic problems, those of growth and business cycle stabilization. The second session, chaired by Jean Godeaux, Governor of Belgium's National Bank, looked at innovations in the conduct of monetary pol icy and the opportunities offered and problems associated with innovations in fiancial markets. The last session, chaired by Baron Michel Woitrin, formerly Professor of Eco nomics and Head Administrator of the Universite Catholi que de Louvain, contains several empirical analyses and pol icy proposals. I 30 years ago growth theory was a very promising research field, at the center of macroeconomics and macroeconomics was at the center of economics. Robert Solow -one of the major contributors to growth theory -reexamines the perti nence of that body of theory to problems of our times. A. Steinherr and D. Weiserbs (eds), Employment and Growth: Issues for the 1980s. ISBN 90·247·3514·9.

Controlling inflation is among the most important objectives of economic policy. By maintaining price stability, policy makers are able to reduce uncertainty, improve price-monitoring mechanisms, and facilitate more efficient planning and allocation of resources, thereby raising productivity. This volume focuses on understanding the causes of the Great Inflation of the 1970s and ’80s, which saw rising inflation in many nations, and which propelled interest rates across the developing world into the double digits. In the decades since, the immediate cause of the period’s rise in inflation has been the subject of considerable debate. Among the areas of contention are the role of monetary policy in driving inflation and the implications this had both for policy design and for evaluating the performance of those who set the policy. Here, contributors map monetary policy from the 1960s to the present, shedding light on the ways in which the lessons of the Great Inflation were absorbed and applied to today’s global and increasingly complex economic environment.

This optimistic text examines and predicts the 40-year period from 1980-2020 as the key years of a remarkable economic transformation.