"This volume is intended to convince professional economists who study the economic system as a whole to reexamine some of the assumptions behind reigning economic theories. A second objective is to explain to the general public why currently fashionable policies cannot solve massive long-term unemployment. Finally, it shows that if political engagement is revived, we may escape the economic morass and moral wasteland into which the fashionable policies have been leading us since the 1970s. This book will appeal to economists, politicians, sociologists and a wider public concerned about today's economic malaise."--Jacket.