A concern in the political economy is how national income is shared between labor and capital. This study evaluates long-term changes in factor income shares in three agri-food industries, their attribution to the level of factor usage or to factor compensation rates, and relation to changes in capital intensity and factor productivity. We find long-term stability in the profit and labor shares of farm income, decline in the profit share of agricultural services industry income, and increase in the profit share of food manufacturing income due to fewer productivity improvements being passed on to wage increases.

This article compares the performance of the UK economy since 1997 with that between 1979 and 1997 and with the performance of the other G7 economies in both periods. It concludes that Britain has done relatively well in terms of productivity growth, economic growth and national income per head but not very well in terms of labour market performance. Savings rates were too low to deliver sustainable economic growth over the period 1979–97 and there has been very little improvement since then. The performance of the economy during the recession and its immediate aftermath has been disappointing relative to the other G7 economies.

This paper deals with macroeconomic aspects of widespread substance abuse with a reference to illicit drugs as an example. Substance abuse impedes the productivity of the labor force and reduces economic growth. Workers are either nonusers and therefore fully productive, a number of whom are employed by the government in drug-control activities, or users who are only partially productive. Efficient management of the nation's portfolio of workers involves eradicating drug use when initial user numbers are lower than a critical level, but allows user numbers to rise to, and be accommodated at, a stationary level when initial user numbers exceed a critical level.