ABSTRACT
The negative image of the 1930s persisted, as far as economic historians were concerned, until the 1960s, when a reappraisal took place. It was then pointed out that in spite of substantial unemployment and lost export markets, the home economy recovered quickly after 1932, that there was something of a boom in important industries such as building and steel, and that the pace of growth in large sections of the ‘new’ industries such as motor vehicles, and in service trades, was impressive. The national income rose substantially above the pre-depression level, both in total and in per head terms. While unemployment rose substantially in the early 1930s, it had diminished by 1937 to the level of 1929. Thus by comparison with the 1920s it could be said that considerable economic progress had been made. On the other hand, such a reappraisal has been in danger of being carried too far. For example, this approach ignores the substantial loss of output during the depression, and the use of terms such as ‘boom’ can be defended only with difficulty in a decade where the average level of unemployment was even higher than in the 1920s.
