Some notes on inflation and employment: Incomes policy and the perspective of the European monetary union

In recent times, a new notion of incomes policy as an instrument aiming both at the control of inflation and at the defense of employment has come to supplant the original conception of incomes policy as the set of conditions which could make the growth of the economy compatible with price stability. The aim of the paper is to emphasize that the theoretical background of the former notion appears profoundly different from-and far less solid than-the one of the latter conception. The second aim is to emphasize that factual experience appears to confirm the role assigned to incomes policy in its original meaning. Wage moderation, important as it may be for the control of inflation, is not sufficient for the defense of employment. The third aim of the paper is to emphasize that the perspective of the European Monetary Union has made the defense of employment even more complex, thus calling for a careful reconsideration of a widely advertised relationship between " Maastricht" and employment. A procedural suggestion addressed to each one of the 15 members of the European Union concludes the paper. (JEL E10).