International Organizations and the Analysis of Economic Policy, 1919–1950

by Anthony M. Endres , Grant A. Fleming

• ISBN13: 9780521022415
• ISBN10: 052102241X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-10
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book expands our understanding of the distinctive policy analysis produced between 1919 and 1950 by economists and other social scientists for four major international organizations: the League of Nations, the International Labor Organization, the Bank for International Settlements, and the United Nations. These practitioners included some of the twentieth century's eminent economists, including Cassel, Haberler, Kalecki, Meade, Morgenstern, Nurkse, Ohlin, Tinbergen, and Viner. Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes also influenced the work of these organizations. Topics covered include: the relationship between economics and policy analysis in international organizations; business cycle research; the role and conduct of monetary policy; public investment; trade policy; social and labor economics; international finance; the coordination problem in international macroeconomic policy; full employment economics; and the rich-country-poor-country debate. Normative agendas underlying international political economy are made explicit, and lessons are distilled for today's debates on international economic integration.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	x
List of Abbreviations	xi
Preface	xiii
1 Economics and Policy in International Organizations: Introduction	1	(16)
Prologue: A Perspective on the Literature	1	(3)
Economics and Policy in International Organizations: Historiographical Issues	4	(5)
The Ideational Context of Research in International Organizations from 1919	9	(8)
2 Business Cycles: Conceptions, Causes, and Implications	17	(41)
Intellectual Setting in the 1920's	17	(1)
The ILO-League Research Program on Crises and Cycles to 1931	18	(12)
Reflections on the International Business Cycle: Further Analytical Work in the 1930's	30	(12)
Toward a Keynesian Reorientation for Business-Cycle Analysis and Policy in the 1940's	42	(12)
Summary and Conclusions	54	(4)
3 The Role and Conduct of Monetary Policy in the 1920's and 1930's	58	(23)
Doctrinal Support for International Economic Conferences in the Early 1920's	58	(3)
A Distinctive ILO Perspective on the Appropriate Monetary Policy Framework	61	(5)
The ILO Monetary Policy Rules	66	(3)
Postscript: The ILO Contribution to Monetary Policy Analysis in the 1920's	69	(2)
International Monetary Organization and Policy: Ideas Emerging at the LON and BIS in the 1930's	71	(4)
The ILO's Departure from Monetary Policy Orthodoxy in the 1930's	75	(6)
4 Public Investment Programs in the Interwar Period: Pre-Keynesian, Proto-Keynesian, and Keynesian Perspectives	81	(24)
Introduction	81	(1)
A Pre-Keynesian Public Works Strategy for the 1920's	82	(5)
Challenges to Pre-Keynesian Doctrine on Public Works	87	(7)
The 1932 ILO Resolution Regarding Public Works: Toward Global Economic Reconstruction	94	(8)
Conclusion	102	(3)
5 Trade Policy Research: Geneva Doctrine and the Scandinavian Connection	105	(28)
Introduction	105	(1)
The World Economic Conference and Ohlin's League of Nations Report	106	(6)
Disturbances to International Equilibrium: League Assessments in the 1930's	112	(7)
Folke Hilgerdt's Pioneering Calculations and Revisions in Geneva Trade Policy Doctrine	119	(6)
Freer Trade, International Agreements, and Macroeconomic Management	125	(5)
Geneva Trade Policy Research: Capsule Summary	130	(3)
6 Social Economics at the ILO: Scope, Content, and Significance	133	(34)
Introduction	133	(3)
International Experience and Debate on Social Insurance up to the 1930's: The ILO Perspective	136	(2)
Unemployment Insurance: A Case Study	138	(5)
Wages and Wages Policy: Microeconomic Issues	143	(17)
Changing the Links between Social and Economic Policy and the New Social Security Vision	160	(7)
7 International Finance and Exchange Rate Policy	167	(31)
Introducing Nurkse's Pivotal Work on Currencies and Inflation	167	(2)
Adjustment Problems in the Crisis Phase without International Rules	169	(8)
Exchange Market Disturbances and the Rationale for an Exchange Rate Rule	177	(5)
The Postwar International Monetary System: Stabilization Rules for Three Main Dimensions of Economic Policy	182	(9)
Toward International Coordination of Macroeconomic Policies	191	(5)
Conclusion	196	(2)
8 The Full Employment Movement from the 1940's	198	(39)
Introduction	198	(1)
Employment Policy in Wartime and the Transition to Peace	199	(9)
The Rise of Development Economics in International Organizations: The Rich-Country-Poor-Country Debate	208	(5)
Dimensions of the Full Employment Obligation	213	(14)
Contemporary Evaluation of the ILO and UN Full Employment Reports	227	(7)
Concluding Reflections on the Full Employment Literature	234	(3)
9 Conclusion Epilogue: Investigating Economics and Policy Analysis in International Organizations	237	(22)
Characterizing Policy Analysis Produced for International Organizations	239	(5)
On the Distinctiveness of Economic Thought in International Organizations	244	(4)
Reflecting on Principal Intellectual (and Other) Influences	248	(4)
Normative Agendas for International Political Economy 1919-1950	252	(2)
International Economic Integration as a Dominant Theme to 1950	254	(5)
References	259	(24)
Index	283