How to Mitigate the Next Slump

Abstract

If we take the summer of 1932 as the turning point, it is now getting on for five years since the bottom of the last depression. And although there is yet no reason to expect a severe break in the present run of prosperity, prudent men are beginning to ask themselves how long the good times will last and whether it is not possible to take action now which will mitigate the severity of the next depression when it comes. It is to the examination of certain aspects of this latter question that the present paper is directed. The title has been chosen very deliberately: I think it may be possible to mitigate depressions: I do not believe that, in the present state of knowledge, it is possible altogether to eliminate them. The scope of the discussion, too, has been deliberately limited to certain financial problems. On the stabilising effect of general measures for the revival of international trade and investment I have argued before in this journal.