Fluctuations in income & employment : with special reference to recent American experience and post-war prospects /
by Thomas Wilson.
- Third edition.
- New York : Pitman Publishing Corporation, [1949].
- x, 217 pages, diagrams, 23 cm.
- London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) Studies in economics and commerce, no. 8 .
- Studies in economics and commerce ; no. 8. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-214).
Part I. A review of trade cycle theory - Chapter I. Effective demand -- Chapter II. Liquidity preference and speculation -- Chapter III. The theory of the multiplier -- Chapter IV. Savings and investment -- Chapter V. Consumption and investment I -- Chapter VI. Consumption and investment II -- Chapter VII. Consumption and investment III -- Chapter VIII. The distribution of income -- Chapter IX. Theories of credit scarcity -- X. The alternative hypotheses Part II. Cyclical fluctuations in the U.S.A. 1919-37 - Chapter XI. The post-war boom -- Chapter XII. The post-war slump and recovery -- Chapter XIII. General features of the period, 1922-29 -- Chapter XIV. The years of steady progress - I -- Chapter XV. The years of steady progress - II -- Chapter XVI. The final boom and collapse -- Chapter XVII. The great depression -- Chapter XVIII. The partial recovery 1933-37
"The purpose of this little book is, first, to examine the fundamental causes of the instability of effective demand, and then to discuss the possible forces which set this unstable mechanism in motion. Why should there be want in the midst of plenty in some years, while in other years goods are scarce and prices are high? It will appear that many of the existing disputes about the trade cycle are largely the result of different factual assumptions and an attempt will be made to draft up a list of alternative hypotheses, each of which may be true in certain circumstances. In the second part of the book I have tried to test the utility of current theories in interpreting the cyclical fluctuations in the U.S.A. between 1919 and 1937. To preform that task adequately would, of course, require a much longer and more scholarly work, but several conclusions of a very provisional nature have been drawn with regard to overconsumption, technical advance, an banking policy... Finally, I have ventured to refer to post-war prospects and to the methods by which the trade cycle may be controlled in the future." -- From the Preface to the first edition