‘Stop‐go’ policy and the restriction of postwar British house‐building

From the mid‐1950s to the early 1980s the Treasury and the Bank of England successfully advocated a policy of restricting both private and public sector house‐building, as a key but covert instrument of their wider ‘stop‐go’ macroeconomic policy framework. While the intensity of restrictions varied over the economic cycle, private house‐building was restricted (through limiting mortgage availability) for almost all this period. This was achieved by keeping building society interest rates low relative to other interest rates and thus starving the building society movement of mortgage funds. Mortgage restriction was never publicly discussed and sometimes operated alongside ambitious housing targets and well‐publicized policy initiatives to boost housing demand. This article outlines the evolution of house‐building restriction, together with its impacts on the housing sector and the wider economy. We review the evolution of the policy framework and its consequences, compare the level and stability of British house‐building during this period—historically and relative to other countries—and undertake time‐series econometric analysis of its impacts on both house‐building and house prices. Finally, implications for debates regarding stop‐go policy, Britain's housing problem, and the distributional consequences of government macroeconomic policy are discussed.     

The ‘trilemma’ hypothesis and policy implications for Fiji

This paper examines the trilemma constraint for Fiji; that is, we investigate how trilemma policy variables were used to address policy trade‐offs among the three objectives of exchange rate stability, monetary autonomy, and financial openness. Fiji makes an interesting case because of its policy orientation towards a stable exchange rate and adequate foreign reserves. Our results suggest that the trilemma constraint is binding for Fiji and policy priority is given to exchange rate stability and monetary policy independence, while less emphasis is placed on financial market openness. We also find that the actual policy levels do not deviate substantially from optimal levels, which evidences that Fiji's policy management has been efficient under the trilemma constraint. Finally, we also study the effects of various trilemma policy combinations and foreign reserve holdings on output growth and inflation.     

The failure of ‘nationalization by attraction’: Britain's cross‐class alliance against earnings‐related pensions in the 1950s1

In 1957, the Labour Party published radical proposals for a state earnings‐related pension scheme (‘national superannuation’) whose funds were to be invested in stock markets to generate high returns, and to help modernize and dynamize the British economy. This article explores a sophisticated campaign against the proposal by the insurance industry, and the resistance of the unions. In doing so, it considers the implications of this cross‐class alliance, not least in terms of a possible missed opportunity to build a ‘developmental state’ in the UK, but also in terms of the country's increasingly inadequate and inequitable system of pension provision.     

‘The rules of the game’: London finance,Australia, and Canada,c.1900–14

It is often asserted that, between 1865 and 1914, economic dependence on British capital subjected settler societies to an unofficial imperialism wielded by the City of London. This article argues that both advocates and critics of such models, particularly in the recent controversy over ‘gentlemanly capitalism’, pay insufficient attention to the City itself. Using the Edwardian City's connections with Australia and Canada, it illustrates the range of financial intermediaries involved and explores their perceptions of political economy in these countries. It concludes that the City's influence (or ‘structural power’) was limited by its internal divisions and hazy conceptions of political economy.     

‘LONG SLOW BOOM’?: MANUFACTURING IN NEW ZEALAND, 1945–70

Many studies of post-war New Zealand economy are highly critical both of economic policy and of the business sector, emphasising protection, complacency and sclerosis. This article argues that such accounts are excessively simplistic and, by analysing the structure and performance of New Zealand manufacturing during 1945–70, suggests that there was considerable innovation in both technological and organisational spheres. The result was that, to a greater extent than current accounts allow, New Zealand manufacturing pursued efficiency and international competitiveness.     

‘Th'ancient Distaff’ and ‘Whirling Spindle’: measuring the contribution of spinning to household earnings and the national economy in England, 1550–17701

The purpose of this article is to estimate the workforce involved in spinning from the late sixteenth century until the eve of mechanization. In addition, the potential contribution to family earnings from spinning will be examined. Just about all of the millions of yards of woollen yarn that went into making English cloth had to be spun by women and children, but this activity has not been investigated to the extent that it deserves. Spinning was a skilled occupation where there was a great demand for the best quality product. Sources exist which make it possible to make general estimates of the amount of spinning needed in the economy, and its cost. This evidence shows that employment in spinning increased dramatically from the late seventeenth century, and continued to increase until there were probably over one million women and children employed in spinning by the mid‐eighteenth century. In addition earnings increased to the extent whereby earnings from spinning could contribute over 30 per cent of household income for poorer families. This has implications for looking at trends in real wages over time, as well as for the concept of the industrious revolution.     

Indigenous accumulation in the Kimberley during the early years of ‘self‐determination’, 1968–1975

This article — using empirical data gathered from, among other sources, the Western Australian State Records Office, National Archives, and Hansard — traces the trajectory of indigenous owned businesses in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. As part of the analysis, the article investigates the main reasons for a shift to the development policy of ‘self‐determination’ during the early 1970s. As well, there is recognition of the major contribution made by an emerging Aboriginal leadership to the evolving policy regime. In doing so, there is a critical re‐evaluation of the origins of, and support for, successful indigenous owned business enterprises.     

The contribution of infrastructure investment to Britain's urban mortality decline, 1861–1900

It is well‐recognized that both improved nutrition and sanitation infrastructure are important contributors to mortality decline. However, the relative importance of the two factors is difficult to quantify since most studies are limited to testing the effects of specific sanitary improvements. This article uses new historical data regarding total investment in urban infrastructure, measured using the outstanding loan stock, to estimate the extent to which the mortality decline in England and Wales between 1861 and 1900 can be attributed to government expenditure. Fixed effects regressions indicate that infrastructure investment explains approximately 30 per cent of the decline in mortality between 1861 and 1900. Since these specifications may not fully account for the endogeneity between investment and mortality, additional specifications are estimated using lagged investment as an instrument for current investment. These estimates suggest that government investment was the major contributor to mortality decline, explaining up to 60 per cent of the reduction in total urban mortality between 1861 and 1900. Additional results indicate that investment in urban infrastructure led to declines in mortality from both waterborne and airborne diseases.     

‘FORGING,AHEAD’: INDUSTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSFORMATION IN A MELBOURNE SUBURB 1906–85

The trajectory of the suburb Sunshine in Western Melbourne (1906–85), from industrial powerhouse to repository of social problems, sheds light on the issues surrounding organic urban expansion. For the many Australians living on the fringes of large cities, a sense of deprivation – particularly inequality in services – undercut the presumed comfort and stability of the post‐war period. Unrest in outer areas deepened following the contraction of the ‘long boom’. The area's pre‐Second World War origins as a manufacturing suburb regulated by the industrialist Hugh V. McKay is starkly contrasted with its later incarnation as a site of industrial and suburban sprawl.     

‘Lines of credit,debts of obligation’: migrant remittances to Britain,c.1875–19131

Britain of the nineteenth century was a net recipient of migrant remittances. Surprisingly little, however, is known about the flow of such funds to the UK. This article addresses this hiatus in several ways. First, it provides an account of the main mechanisms by which remittances were transferred in this period. Second, it presents new estimates of the volume of remittances flowing to Britain between 1875 and 1913, and, in doing so, offers a comparison of remittance patterns between different Anglophone societies. Third, it assesses the significance of remittances for their recipients in the UK. The article ends by considering the implications of all of the above for the way in which historians are currently trying to formulate the concept of a ‘British world’.     

‘Riches beyond the dreams of avarice?’: commerical returns on British warship construction, 1889‐1914

The contracts for naval warships placed in private shipyards in the nineteenth century provide an early example of state procurement policy. It has been widely argued that these contracts allowed the firms concerned to earn unusually high profits, although the evidence provided has been very limited. This article analyses the effects of naval warship contracts on the profitability of the dominant suppliers during the ‘naval arms race' of 1889‐1914 in order to provide new and more systematic evidence on the workings of an early form of regulation and on a tangible aspect of the relationship between firms and the British government.     

Reorganization of Intra‐ASEAN 5 Trade Flows: The ‘China Factor’*

There are claims that China's influence on ASEAN is direct in that she has encouraged more exports to flow into her huge markets and changed trade flows among member countries. Demand and supply are thus deemed to have become more China‐centered. This study therefore explores the plausibility of China as a ‘factor’ that influences bilateral intra‐ASEAN 5 trade flows through demand (exporting country) and supply (importing country). The results imply that China's integration in the region increases the size of the key ASEAN member economies export market. There is also no indication that import sourcing from China by ASEAN 5 countries reduces export expansion within the latter. The results accord with the fact that although China has become an important export destination and an import source for individual ASEAN 5 countries, this has not reduced intra‐ASEAN 5 trade.     

Gender,life cycle,and family ‘strategies’ among the poor: the Barcelona workhouse, 1762–1805

Poor relief has received less attention from historians of southern Europe compared with northern Europe. This article seeks to challenge the frequent assumption that the strength of family ties in southern Europe mitigated the need for welfare provision. It provides new data for men and boys entering the Barcelona workhouse in the period 1780–1803, and compares these with data from an earlier study of women and girls who entered the same institution over the period 1762–1805. We establish the characteristics of those who sought relief in terms of age, place of origin, marital status, and occupation. We use the information on reasons for entry and exit to ascertain family circumstances. We show that there were significant differences between males and females in terms of why they entered and left, and length of stay, particularly among the elderly. The bulk of the population of the workhouse, however, was comprised of children and adolescents. For this group, entry into the workhouse represented not just a temporary solution to life cycle poverty and periodic unemployment, but also a longer‐term strategy aimed at smoothing entry into the labour market.