Card, et al Book on Britain Reforms

Ah, to have time. Why, if I had more time, I could do anything! Or at least, I could read more books, which is probably what I'll do in heaven. But you know, even in heaven, not all of the problems of scarcity are reversed. I still can only do one thing at a time, even in heaven, and so much make choices. And if in heaven, we continue to generate cultural goods, like books, movies, videogames, as well as agricultural goods like food and wine, then I'll be forever cursed by having to choose between two very good things! Argh. Oh well, if I could get to a place where I could read all the books I wanted to read, then I would read this book, edited by David Card, Richard Blundell and Richard Freeman. It's entitled Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980-2000, and is a collection of essays which thanks to Google can be read at the first link, or thanks to Amazon, can be bought for $95 at the second link. Here's a blurb.

In the 1980s and 1990s successive United Kingdom governments enacted a series of reforms to establish a more market-oriented economy, closer to the American model and further away from its Western European competitors. Today, the United Kingdom is one of the least regulated economies in the world, marked by transformed welfare and industrial relations systems and broad privatization. Virtually every industry and government program has been affected by the reforms, from hospitals and schools to labor unions and jobless benefit programs.Seeking a Premier Economy focuses on the labor and product market reforms that directly impacted productivity, employment, and inequality. The questions asked are provocative: How did the United Kingdom manage to stave off falling earnings for lower paid workers? What role did the reforms play in rising income inequality and trends in poverty? At the same time, what reforms also contributed to reduced unemployment and the accelerated growth of real wages? The comparative microeconomic approach of this book yields the most credible evaluation possible, focusing on closely associated outcomes of particular reforms for individuals, firms, and sectors.

Hattip to a commenter over at Marginal Revolutions.