1,721,018 research outputs found
Grenville on War Finance and the Sinking Fund
No full textOne of the prominent supporters of the Pitt’s sinking fund, as well
as promoter and architect of the fund implemented by the shortlived
Ministry of All the Talents, Grenville, in 1828, in his essay on
the supposed advantages of a sinking fund, gave the final blow
to a system which had played a vital role in the handling of
British public finance since 1716. This paper discusses the reasons
that led Grenville to change his opinion. The functions performed
by the sinking fund, over a century in which extensive military
commitments went hand in hand with the development of public
credit, were manifold. Among these, during the French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, two emerged as prominent:
the first concerned the attempt to make indiscriminate use of the
public debt to finance the war; the second instead touched on
the relationship between government and Parliament, and on
how the former could emancipate himself from the latter over
how and how much to spend. After focusing on these functions
of the sinking fund and their fading away with the end of
hostilities wartime, the paper highlights some differences
between Grenville and Ricardo on war finance and the sinking fund
Rethinking Expansionary Fiscal Retrenchments
No full textDuring the last quarter of the 20th Century, the conventional wisdom prevailing in academic, political and financial circles was definitely against government deficits. At the turn of the century, however, a substantial recourse to deficit spending practices in the United States reopened the debate on the usefulness of countercyclical fiscal policies. This essay discusses the main contents of this debate, reviewing the contributions to various symposiums held at a number of U.S. Federal Reserve Banks. A comparison with the views on this issue prevailing in Europe is also provided
The rate of interest independent of the rate of profit: a review of Matthew Smith's Tooke (2011)
No full textIt is particularly fortunate that the publication of a book on the work of Thomas Tooke should have occurred during one of the biggest financial crises in the history of the capitalist system. Matthew Smith’s account of Tooke’s contributions is wide-ranging. Among the many topics analysed in his book, this review aims to discuss in particular Tooke’s view of the connection between the interest rate and the incentive to invest, his notion of the interest rate as a cost of production, and the relationship of this notion with the classical theory of distributio
US Senate Tax Shelter Industry: The Role of Accountant, Lawyers, and Financial Professionals
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