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Anthony Barber was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1971 to 1974, during which period the Conservative government undertook an experiment in economic policy-making: an attempt to let the market eco...nomy work without government interference. David Leece uses news cuttings, photos and archive film to demonstrate the problems of economic management Barber faced, and also the aims of his various budgets. He concentrates on two policy areas: the consequences for the balance of payments of an expansion in domestic activity and also its effect on the money supply. Graphics detail the movements of economic variables like unemployment, output, earnings, and prices through the months when Barber was Chancellor. Finally, he puts three questions to two experts: Alan Budd of the London Business School and Frank Blackaby of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research: 1) Was a consumption-led boom the correct policy to pursue? 2) Were the policies correctly timed? 3) Were they over-applied?
Anthony Barber was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1971 to 1974, during which period the Conservative government undertook an experiment in economic policy-making: an attempt to let the market eco...nomy work without government interference. David Leece uses news cuttings, photos and archive film to demonstrate the problems of economic management Barber faced, and also the aims of his various budgets. He concentrates on two policy areas: the consequences for the balance of payments of an expansion in domestic activity and also its effect on the money supply. Graphics detail the movements of economic variables like unemployment, output, earnings, and prices through the months when Barber was Chancellor. Finally, he puts three questions to two experts: Alan Budd of the London Business School and Frank Blackaby of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research: 1) Was a consumption-led boom the correct policy to pursue? 2) Were the policies correctly timed? 3) Were they over-applied?
| Module code and title: | D284, National income and economic policy |
|---|---|
| Item code: | D284; 07 |
| First transmission date: | 12-09-1979 |
| Published: | 1979 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:50 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Susan Boyd-Bowman |
| Contributors: | David Leece; Frank Blackaby; Alan Budd |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Budgets; Fiscal policy; Keynesianism; Macro economics |
| Footage description: | The programme begins with archive film of Anthony Barber making a party political broadcast, describing his first budget in 1971. David Leece describes the economic policies of the Conservative government. A second extract from Mr Barber's speech follows. David Leece describes Barber's aims with his first budget. Archive film of Vic Feather of the T.U.C., making a speech against the governments' policies. David Leece describes the governments concern over rising levels of unemployment. Archive film of Mr Barber explaining his expansionary budget of March 1972. David Leece describes main policy measures of the budget and then examines the effect it had upon the balance of payments and the value of the pound. David Leece now examines the effect of Mr Barber's budgets on the money supply. He describes the governments' reaction to the miners' pay settlement in February and the introduction of a pay freeze and prices and incomes policy. He next examines the performance of the economy overall from 1971 to 1973, and poses the question: 'Was a consumption-led boom the correct policy to pursue?' Alan Budd of the London Business School discusses Mr Barber's budgets and the advisability of trying to expand the economy by means of a consumption-led boom. He describes the effect of Mr Barber's policies on the money supply and exchange rate, both of which fed into the rate Frank Blackaby of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, discusses the advice which his organisation gave to the chancellor in 1972. He argues that these recommendations were not presented as a policy for a dash for growth, but as a means for lowering unemployment. He discusses the importance of the money supply figures and blames the explosion in prices and earnings in 1974/5 on the rise in world commodity prices and the threshold payments introduced by the conservative government. David Leece sums up the achievements of the Barber budgets and the lessons that can be learnt from them. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/73184 |
| Production number: | FOUD035P |
| Videofinder number: | 159 |
| Available to public: | no |
