Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Original Title Page; Original Copyright Page; Contents; Introduction; Part 1: The Nature of the Problem; 1 The Scale and Nature of the Problem; 2 The Social Consequences of Interwar Unemployment; 3 Systems of Interwar Unemployment Relief; 4 Unemployment and Interwar Politics; 5 Unemployment and Real Wages; 6 The Real Wage Debate and British Interwar Unemployment; 7 The Outlines of a Keynesian Solution; Part 2: The Policy Debate; 8 Keynes; 9 Treasury Policy on Unemployment; 10 Industrial Policy; 11 Labour Policy; 12 Real Policy Options
13 The War and the White PaperNotes on Contributors; Bibliography; Index
Summary
First published in 1987. This volume explores the inter-war unemployment problem and the development of economic and social policy in relation to that problem. Contemporary policies and levels of unemployment can only be compared with the inter-war period and in recent years economists and other commentators have increasingly turned their attention to the 1930s. This book is written by a group of expert historians and policy analysts who have been in the forefront of recent research. In particular, new insights into economic policy which have come from the release of cabinet and departmental papers at The Public Record Office are revealed. Recent economic theory is also taken into account and the findings question established views on many grounds. New economic lessons from the 1930s are suggested and some astonishing similarities to the 1980s and demonstrated. This work will be essential reading for students of modern British history and economic and social history as well as economic policy and government and politics
