This volume departs from the established jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Research Association, reflecting the current pervading interest in the reduction of poverty. The focus is on public programs ; the contributions of the free market are taken for granted. Gainful, sustained employment is the solution for many of the poor, possibly the majority. The balance are too old, too young, ill or encumbered with family responsibilities to be able to work. A full employment economy remains the most effective tool to the orderly reduction of poverty. However, full employment is associated with inflation and society's threshold of tolerance to bear the costs of inflation is low, and as a matter of public policy priority has been placed upon easing inflationary pressures at the cost of some unemployment. The burden of this trade-off is carried by the competitively disadvantaged in the free labor market who are denied jobs as long as better qualified or more acceptable workers are available.A common thread running through the volume is that society's efforts in aid of the poor have not been commensurate with its resources or the needs of the poor. Doubts are also raised as to whether the recent increased emphasis on helping the poor, the so-called "war on poverty," has been effective. Wickenden claims that "by any objective cost-benefit standards of achievement" the results of the war on poverty "have not been encouraging." The issue is not that the road to a poorless society is unchartered, but given inadequate resources the program administrators have floundered, promising and attempting too much and delivering too little.
