Professor Submits Report On Inflation to Humphrey

Otto Eckstein, professor of Economics and a member of Vice-President Humphrey's economics advisory board, has submitted a report to the Vice-President on curbing inflation without hurting the country's prosperity.

Eckstein, a former member of the Council of Economic Advisors, headed a sixman task force assigned to research the problems of price-wage spiraling and inflation.

A one-time supporter of Sen. Robert Kennedy '48, Eckstein joined the Humphrey camp in mid-July. He has worked under Walter Heller, economic advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and coordinator of Humphrey's economic research groups.

Completed earlier this month, Eckstein said, the task force's report includes "all ideas and all the dissenting views" of the members. Humphrey specifically asked that the report include as many ideas as possible, Eckstein said, even if some of them conflicted.

The report proposes several plans designed to involve the government in the economy's price-wage decisions.

One such plan calls for a participatory or cooperative price-wage system, Eckstein said, in which a three-cornered mediating board of management, labor, and government would settle disputes.

Keep Prices Down

The report secondly called on the government to insure maximum price competition through strong anti-trust law enforcement and free trade.

"None of these programs requires additional Congressional legislation," Eckstein said.

The problem stems back to 1965, Eckstein said, when the economic stability achieved under President Johnson fell prey to the financial burdens of the Vietnam war. The result was the fourth period of inflation since World War II.

Eckstein said that the proposed programs would give the government more control over inflationary forces and avoid undesirable employment fluctuations.