Incomes policy ranks as one of the most controversial economic issues of our time. That the subject should have been contentious in New Zealand is hardly surprising: since 1971 statutory wage and price controls of one form or another have been in force almost continuously. Indeed, no other OECD country has experienced such protracted governmental interference in the process of wage determination in peace time. This book, which has been commissioned by the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University, provides the first comprehensive account of the attempts of successive New Zealand governments to regulate the growth of wages and salaries since the demise of the Arbitration Court in the late 1960s. It also describes the debate over long-term wage reform, and outlines the policy options. The material presented here will be of inerest not only to trade unionits, employers and policy makers, but to all those who wish to gain a deeper insight into the central issues of contemporary political and economic debate.