The Restrictive Society

Originally published in 1967, despite the controversial nature of the subject and non-cooperation from Trade Unions and employers’ organisations alike, John A. Lincoln produced the first comprehensive survey of Restrictionism.

It is his case that restrictive practices had a stranglehold on almost every trade or profession, and were swiftly paralysing our economy. Examining the menace of restrictionism, both in microscopic detail and as a whole, he reiterates the urgency of abolishing restrictive practices immediately and the immediate benefits which would result from their abolition.

Mr Lincoln’s report covers Government trade policies and tariffs: business practices and monopolies: industrial, professional and marketing restrictions. He gives a compelling history of the growth of these practices and a vivid account of their operation at the time. At once courageous, outspoken and objective, the report shows evidence of the author’s past experience as principal assistant to Lord Beveridge, whose inquiry on Voluntary Action he instigated twenty years previously.

As Lord Shawcross stresses in his Foreword, Mr Lincoln’s report is significant for our economic future and ‘must provoke controversy and thought, and as a result of thought, action.’ This is the author’s clear intention, and he hoped his report would be ‘not only a declaration of faith, but also a challenge to the people of this country.’ Today it can be read in its historical context.