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Unemployment in Interwar Britain: Dole or Doldrums?

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  • Eichengreen, Barry

Abstract

Several controversial recent studies seek to explain interwar Britain's high unemployment rate in terms of the generosity of her unemployment-insurance system. All of these studies are macroeconomic in nature. In contrast, this paper employs a micro economic sample of some 2,400 adult males to analyze the relationship of unemployment benefits to unemployment in 1929-31. The author find s a generally positive but small association between unemployment inc idence and the estimated benefit/wage ratio, but one limited largely to secondary workers. The contribution of insurance benefits to inter war unemployment turns out to be small in the context of the Great De pression. Copyright 1987 by Royal Economic Society.

Suggested Citation

  • Eichengreen, Barry, 1987. "Unemployment in Interwar Britain: Dole or Doldrums?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(4), pages 597-623, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:39:y:1987:i:4:p:597-623
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    Cited by:

    1. Jason Lennard, 2023. "Sticky wages and the Great Depression: evidence from the United Kingdom," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 196-222.
    2. Barry Eichengreen, 2011. "Crisis and Growth in the Advanced Economies: What We Know, What We Do not, and What We Can Learn from the 1930s," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 53(3), pages 383-406, September.
    3. Harold L. Cole & Lee E. Ohanian, 2002. "The Great U.K. Depression: A Puzzle and Possible Resolution," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(1), pages 19-44, January.
    4. James M. Nason & Shaun P. Vahey, 2012. "UK World War I and interwar data for business cycle and growth analysis," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 6(2), pages 115-142, May.
    5. Bayoumi, Tamim & Bordo, Michael D, 1998. "Getting Pegged: Comparing the 1879 and 1925 Gold Resumptions," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(1), pages 122-149, January.
    6. Ronicle, David, 2022. "Turning in the widening gyre: monetary and fiscal policy in interwar Britain," Bank of England working papers 968, Bank of England.
    7. Naveen Srinivasan & Pratik Mitra, 2016. "Interwar Unemployment in the UK and US: Old and New Evidence," Working Papers 2016-149, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    8. Harold L. Cole & Lee E. Ohanian, 2002. "The Great U.K. Depression: A Puzzle and Possible Resolution," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(1), pages 19-44, January.
    9. James M. Nason & Shaun P. Vahey, 2006. "Interwar U.K. unemployment: the Benjamin and Kochin hypothesis or the legacy of “just” taxes?," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2006-04, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    10. Naveen Srinivasan & Pratik Mitra, 2016. "Interwar Unemployment in the UK and the US: Old and New Evidence," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 5(1), pages 96-112, June.

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