Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Lund Papers in Economic History,
Lund University, Department of Economic History

No 170: Uncertainty and the Great Slump

Jason Lennard ()
Additional contact information
Jason Lennard: Department of Economic History, Lund University, Postal: Department of Economic History, Lund University, Box 7083, S-220 07 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty on the macroeconomy of interwar Britain. A new index of economic policy uncertainty constructed from contemporary newspapers indicates that this was a period of great anxiety. Time series evidence suggests that this uncertainty reduced output, raised unemployment and contributed to macroeconomic volatility.

Keywords: business cycles; interwar Britain; local projections; narrative identification; uncertainty

JEL-codes: E32; E60; N14; N44

30 pages, First version: February 1, 2018. Revised: May 14, 2019. Earlier revisions: July 19, 2018.

Full text files 

a3a8350f-db93-4229-8970-623b6c0eebf3 PDF-file Full text

Download statistics

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Tobias Karlsson ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

This page generated on 2024-02-05 17:12:36.