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.