Asking The Man in the Street: Research v. Rhetoric

Richard Layard, How to Beat Unemployment, 1986:

"If you ask the man in the street (not Wall Street) what has caused our unemployment, nine times out of ten he will say that it is machines displacing people. In fact for this reason he is often deeply pessimistic about whether we could ever have full employment again."

Dear Professor Layard,

In your 1986 book, "How to Beat Unemployment," you wrote: "If you ask the man in the street (not Wall Street) what has caused our unemployment, nine times out of ten he will say that it is machines displacing people. In fact for this reason he is often deeply pessimistic about whether we could ever have full employment again."

I am curious. Did you ask "the man in the street"?

Cheers,


The Sandwichman