ABSTRACT
The position in the spring of 1931 was therefore that the depression had led to a fall in exports and in the national income, a rise in unemployment, a fall in the price level, and a deterioration in public finance. These had largely been brought about by external forces, as international trade and the prices of internationally traded goods fell. Although very serious by historical standards, and socially the more distressing since unemployment was concentrated in those industries and regions which had already been suffering in the 1920s, the British depression was relatively mild by international standards. However, at this point, the depression in the real economy became the background to a series of financial crises, which in turn led for the first time to a radical shift in policy. 1
