ABSTRACT
There was no basic disagreement on economic policy in the immediate post-war years. The need to re-integrate millions of men and women from the armed forces and the war industries into peaceful production, to re-equip industry after years of neglect and rundown, and to do all this smoothly, with as little unemployment and as little disturbance of the foreign balance of payments and the value of the pound sterling as possible, was clear for everyone to see. Tasks relating to real assets on the ground and real output had to take precedence.
