The extent of British economic recovery in the 1930s

Abstract

The nature if not the extent of Britain's economic recovery in the 1930s is well known. The economy began to emerge from the Great Depression late in 1932 and this expansion continued until 1937 when another recession occurred immediately before the Second World War. The recovery in this decade was largely based on the growth of the consumer goods sector and the construction industry; backed by a modest contribution from exports which experienced some improvement from the dismal levels to which they had fallen during the Great Depression. In general the rate of economic growth in the decade seems to have been quite considerable, particularly in relation to that of most leading capitalist economies. Nevertheless, the very high levels of unemployment associated with major structural difficulties within industry, and which formed such a prominent feature of the inter-war years as a whole, persisted throughout the recovery of the 1930s.

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Michael Collins

We should like to thank the British Academy for financial assistance and the National Bureau of Economic Research for helpful suggestions.