In this careful and thorough study of a Canadian field which has been relatively untouched in recent years, Dr. Brecher records and comments on the development of monetary and fiscal thinking in Canada in the inter-war period, and its impact on public policy in the federal sphere. Examining Canadian opinion about economic theory during this time, the author draws on four fields of thought: that of government and other public officials; of businessmen, such as bankers, and their views on what should be done about the depression; of the "radical group", such as those prominent in the formation of the CCF and Social Credit parties; and of economists, prominent in the universities. Dr. Brecher points out in his preface that his inquiry is rooted in the conviction that the problems associated with cyclical fluctuations remain sufficiently complex to make an understanding of the developments of the twenties and thirties an indispensable condition for effective stabilization policy. He finds the twenties distinguished only in the superficial and imperfect diagnosis of and remedial suggestions for unemployment, made chiefly by a relatively small handful of thinkers associated with the Progressive and United Farmers movements, then emerging in the West. It was the thirties which, under the impact of the depression, witnessed the first real stirrings of careful economic analysis in cyclical terms, and of statistical techniques for measuring the value of annual productive activity and income receipts in the Dominion. The author has attempted to appraise the evolution of the Canadian policy of monetary and fiscal stabilization within the thought environment in which it was conceived and implemented, and on the basis of the standards set by modern income-employment theory.

Focusing mainly on the staple theory, this collection of essays clearly shows the impact the great staple trades from cod and fur to newsprint and oil had upon Canadian history. Other significant frames of reference-the role of government, the development of commercial agriculture, the climate of enterprise and capital formation-are also represented.

In A History of Canadian Economic Thought, Robin Neill relates the evolution of economic theory in Canada to the particular geographical and political features of the country. Whilst there were distinctively Canadian economic discourses in nineteenth-century Ontario and early twentieth-century Quebec, Neill argues that these have now been absorbed

As in their earlier work, the highly acclaimed Canada since 1945, the authors focus on the political context of events.

"In these two volumes, which replace the Reader's Guide to Canadian History, experts provide a select and critical guide to historical writing about pre- and post-Confederation Canada, with an emphasis on the most recent scholarship" -- Cover.