The Research On The Economic Policy Of Macmillan And Hume Government In Britain(1957-1964)

Britain's economic growth in the 1950 s was intermittent; it was no exception of the contemporary phenomenon that any capitalist state pursuing the Keynesian approach of economy was inevitably troubled by both unemployment and inflation. It was in this context that Harold Macmillan succeeded Anthony Ayden as the Prime Minister of Britain, and he was, after seven years in the position, replaced by Douglas-Hume, who followed his policy. Macmillan's and Hume's Government adopted various measures to mitigate the weakness of British economy in the eight years of their rule. In the 1960 s, Britain's social and economic problems belied the postwar boom. For Macmillan Government and later the Conservative Party led by Hume, how to maintain the economic stability and lead Britain out of the economic troubles bellying the prosperity was a major test; it was thus crucial to put forward an effective prescription to solve the problems they encountered. Taking a series of macroeconomic measures, either fiscal or monetary, and microeconomic measures,including some income policies, the Macmillan Government rehabilitated domestic employment, achieved faster growth of economy, and to a certain degree, curbed the inflation. This in turn left a legacy for the Labor Party Government that took over power in later years.Although some light has been shed into the economic policies of Macmillan and Hume Governments as parts of the post-war economic policy in Britain, most monographs focused more on the diplomatic and political aspects of the two governments' rule. Given the importance of this two governments and the relatively little attention given to them, this thesis aims to analyze the macro and micro economic policies of Britain during Macmillan's and Hume's Governments(1957-1964), summarize their characters and evaluate their achievements and disadvantages. It consists of an introduction and six chapters.The introduction explains the reason to choose the economic policies under the Macmillan and Hume Governments as the object and the significance of this study. In addition, it reviewed both domestic and overseas literature on this topic and its achievements.The first chapter introduces the economic problems faced by the Macmillan Government, mostly the unbalance and relative decline of the economic development,the unbalance in international payments, inflation and the increased public spending and unemployment issues.The second chapter discusses the macroeconomic policies of Macmillan's and Hume's Governments. They adopted the alternative policies of lightening and loosening in both fiscal and monetary areas, which gave birth of the economic“planning”. However, these policies failed to achieve positive results in their implementation.The third chapter mainly discusses the micro-economic policy, with an emphasis on “the salary freeze” and the establishment of incomes policy. To some extent they contained the inflation. The partial adjustment of the policy of nationalization led to the improvement of the productivity of some parts of the state-owned sector of the economy. Besides, the social welfare policy was ameliorated on the basis of former practice.The fourth chapter mainly summarizes the characteristics of the macroeconomic policies under Macmillan and Hume, and then gives a brief evaluation on the basis of the analysis of the effect of their implementation. It concludes that the demand management was still a major means of economic regulation and did make some achievements in practice. To some extent, the degree of state intervention in the economy constantly strengthened during this period. Besides, this chapter introduces the theoretical origins of the economic policies that guided the Macmillan Government.The fifth chapter briefly summarizes the achievements made by Macmillan and Hume's Government economic policy, while not turning a blind eye to the fact that their policies could not maintain the momentum of economic development and,among other shortcomings, the fact that the relative decline of British economy could not be reverted.The thesis mainly focuses on the economic policies of the Macmillan and Hume Governments. However, in the context of the rapid development of the global economy, most countries in the world, especially the developed capitalist countries will still be disturbed by such problems as the economic crisis, inflation, stagnation and so on. Therefore, the research here will provide some useful experience for these countries on policy-making aspects to counter various economic problems.