Towards a Managed Economy?

Abstract

IN recent years a good deal of research has been done on two related questions: to what extent was there a movement towards a managed economy in the 1930s, and to what extent did any such movement reflect the influence of Keynes? It must be said that it is by no means easy to discover how economic ideas enter the policy-making process. Nevertheless, important work by Howson and Winch [63] and Middleton [104] has probably enabled us to learn more about the influence of economic ideas in the 1930s than about any other period. Even so, there remains the problem that many of the measures which Keynes advocated were also advocated by various pressure groups, albeit in less articulate ways. It is difficult to distinguish his influence from that of changes in public opinion — especially when he himself was an influence on informed public opinion [12]. What one can do is to compare the Treasury’s ideas with those of Keynes, to see whether a convergence was taking place.