This 1990 book is a comprehensive study of government reactions to the interwar unemployment problem. Drawing upon an extensive range of primary and secondary sources, it analyses official ameliorative policy towards unemployment and contemporary reactions to such intervention.

Despite the dominance of unemployment in the historiography of interwar Britain, there is as yet no comprehensive single volume study of government reactions to the problem over the entire period down to 1939. British Unemployment 1919-1939 aims to fill that gap. W.R. Garside draws upon an extensive range of primary and secondary sources to analyze official ameliorative policy toward unemployment and contemporary reactions to such intervention. He assesses the nature and scale of interwar unemployment assistance. Careful study is also made of the impact of unemployment on related areas of economic concerns such as monetary and fiscal policy, industrial change, overseas trade, colonial development, labor supply and the impact of collective bargaining. Comprehensive, informative and clearly written, this book is the fullest account of policy responses to unemployment in the interwar period. It will be invaluable to specialists in recent British economic history and public policy, as well as an essential reference work for students coming to the subject for the first time.

The period between the two World Wars was remarkable; mass unemployment, protectionism, diverse exchange rate regimes, the disintegration of world trade, poor growth prospects and high business cycle volatility. This comprehensive textbook surveys key questions arising from the British economy from 1919 to 1939: Why was unemployment so high? Did a fast transition to the pre-1913 gold parity lead to a low growth equilibrium? Why were interwar business cycles so volatile? Did tariffs stimulate economic recovery in the 1930s? A comparative approach is adopted throughout. For example, the question of gold parity is contrasted with countries that allowed their currencies to depreciate. The book is aimed primarily at students studying economic history. The book continually applies economic theory to historical examples enabling students to evaluate the relevance of competing theoretical frameworks.