ABSTRACT
Keynes and Beveridge each in their separate spheres concluded that the crucial liberal principles could only be safeguarded by insisting upon the relaxation of some specified liberal practices. In particular a degree of state intervention in a market economy was, they argued, both unavoidable and necessary to maintain intact the essential capitalist framework. Post-war policies were mostly guided by this liberal collectivist approach which had been overwhelmingly shaped by the writings of Beveridge and Keynes. The object of the present chapter is to analyse the implications of this in the field of employment. We shall examine the assumptions about the level and composition of employment which are embodied in the works of Beveridge and Keynes; indicate their proposed methods of implementation; and see how far these were borne out, or thwarted, by the main trends in employment in Britain since the war.
