Over the last 30 years, Economic Policy has strived to produce policy relevant and rigorous analyses of the economic challenges of the time. A number of articles have been highly influential, shaping thinking among academic economists and policymakers. This volume brings together key historic articles that still resonate today. It provides academics with important research markers, and also provides students (and their teachers) with a ‘reader’ that demonstrates how the field of economics progresses by responding to challenges of the time. It will also inspire a new generation of students and academics with a recollection of how some of today’s most influential economists made early contributions.