Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF AUTHORS
- LIST OF FIGURES
- LIST OF TABLES
- PREFACE
- 1 AN OVERVIEW
- 2 THE AUSTRALIAN RECOVERY OF THE 1930s IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
- 3 THE RECOVERY OF THE 1930s AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN BRITAIN
- 4 A MACRO INTERPRETATION OF RECOVERY: AUSTRALIA AND CANADA
- 5 DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN NEW ZEALAND
- 6 THE JAPANESE ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN THE 1930s
- 7 THE BATTLE OF THE PLANS: A MACROECONOMETRIC MODEL OF THE INTERWAR ECONOMY
- 8 AUSTRALIAN BUDGETARY POLICIES IN THE 1930s
- 9 MONETARY POLICY IN DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY
- 10 SHARING THE BURDEN: THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MARKET DURING THE 1930s
- 11 MANUFACTURING AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN AUSTRALIA, 1932–1937
- 12 AGRICULTURE AND THE RECOVERY FROM THE DEPRESSION
- 13 UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF THE 1930s
- 14 GOVERNMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF IN THE 1930s: AID OR HINDRANCE TO RECOVERY?
- 15 UNEQUAL SACRIFICE: DISTRIBUTIONAL ASPECTS OF DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN AUSTRALIA
- REFERENCES
- INDEX
3 - THE RECOVERY OF THE 1930s AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN BRITAIN
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF AUTHORS
- LIST OF FIGURES
- LIST OF TABLES
- PREFACE
- 1 AN OVERVIEW
- 2 THE AUSTRALIAN RECOVERY OF THE 1930s IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
- 3 THE RECOVERY OF THE 1930s AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN BRITAIN
- 4 A MACRO INTERPRETATION OF RECOVERY: AUSTRALIA AND CANADA
- 5 DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN NEW ZEALAND
- 6 THE JAPANESE ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN THE 1930s
- 7 THE BATTLE OF THE PLANS: A MACROECONOMETRIC MODEL OF THE INTERWAR ECONOMY
- 8 AUSTRALIAN BUDGETARY POLICIES IN THE 1930s
- 9 MONETARY POLICY IN DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY
- 10 SHARING THE BURDEN: THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MARKET DURING THE 1930s
- 11 MANUFACTURING AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN AUSTRALIA, 1932–1937
- 12 AGRICULTURE AND THE RECOVERY FROM THE DEPRESSION
- 13 UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF THE 1930s
- 14 GOVERNMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF IN THE 1930s: AID OR HINDRANCE TO RECOVERY?
- 15 UNEQUAL SACRIFICE: DISTRIBUTIONAL ASPECTS OF DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN AUSTRALIA
- REFERENCES
- INDEX
Summary
The purpose of this chapter is to give an interpretation of the nature and causes of the recovery from the depression of the early 1930s in Britain. We will argue for a slightly different interpretation than is usually found in the standard accounts or in a recent controversial reinterpretation of the period. In particular, stress will be laid on the importance of public policy in the recovery, a view which has tended to be increasingly overshadowed in the discussion.
Recovery Process
International Setting
In the decades before 1914, the British economy was the world's leading exporter of manufactures, services and capital and played a pivotal role in international relations. By the 1920s the economy was seriously weakened: its share of world production and trade in manufactures, which had been 14.1 and 25.4 per cent respectively in 1913, had fallen to 9.4 and 20.4 per cent by 1929. Loss of markets for staple exports exacerbated by the return to the gold standard and depletion of overseas assets limited its ability to attain full employment and to generate capital exports on the prewar scale. With the onset of the depression in the United States, the growth of protectionism and financial instability, the pressure spread to Britain and culminated in the collapse of the international monetary system.
In the period that followed, international economic relations became fragmented and a number of separate trading blocs emerged. That centred on Britain is distinguished by two main features: imperial preference and the sterling area. Under the Ottawa Agreements, relatively free trade was maintained among Empire countries while tariffs were raised against the rest of the world.
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- Recovery from the DepressionAustralia and the World Economy in the 1930s, pp. 61 - 88Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989