Unemployment and the Economists addresses economic ideas, beliefs and arguments regarding the causes and possible cures of unemployment - a matter of recurring interest and concern for economists throughout history.

An overview essay by Bernard Corry shows how the economic policy and theory has focused more on giving incentives for the unemployed to find work than on altering the structure of the demand for labour. Terry Peach writes about Ricardo's debates with Malthus on unemployment following the Napoleonic wars, while Jose Harris examines the phenomenon during the 1870 to 1914 period.

The volume also includes work by George Peden on the interwar British Treasury's rejection of borrowing to counter unemployment and Alan Budd's paper on the theory and practice of unemployment policy since the second world war. The volume concludes with comments by Walter Eltis.