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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 Britain's high interwar unemployment rate as a consequence of the generosity of her unemployment insurance system. All of these studies are based on macroeconomic time-series data. In contrast, this paper employs a microeconomic cross-section, a sub-sample of some 2,400 adult males drawn from the New Survey of London Life and Labour, conducted between 1928 and 1931. I use this data to analyse the relationship between unemployment benefits and unemployment status. I find a generally positive association between the incidence of unemployment and the estimated benefit/wage ratio, but this relationship is significant only in the case of secondary workers. Survey data suggest that insurance benefits made only a small contribution to interwar unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Eichengreen, Barry, 1987. "Unemployment in Interwar Britain: Dole or Doldrums?," CEPR Discussion Papers 207, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:207
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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, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 27(2), pages 196-222.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Ronicle, David, 2022. "Turning in the widening gyre: monetary and fiscal policy in interwar Britain," Bank of England working papers 968, Bank of England.
    9. 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.

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