The Economic and Social Consequences of the War: Pigou, the Press and the Struggle for an Honourable Peace

Rogério Arthmar and Michael McLure
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Rogério Arthmar: Department of Economics, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Brazil
Michael McLure: Business School, The University of Western Australia, https://www.web.uwa.edu.au/person/michael.mclure

No 17-14, Economics Discussion / Working Papers from The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics

Abstract: This study reflects on Arthur Cecil Pigou’s contribution to public debate over Britain’s return to peace during the initial period the First World War. It explores Pigou's letters to The Nation, in early 1915, suggesting an open move by the Allies towards an honourable peace with Germany; and provides and account of the fierce controversy that erupted in the British press in reaction to Pigou's proposal. The study also places Pigou’s efforts at persuading the broader public of a peace treaty with Germany within the context of events at Cambridge. That is achieved by providing an outline of the March 1915 debate, at the Cambridge Union Society, on Pigou's motion for a moderate Allied peace policy to secure Germany’s ‘conditional’ surrender. Pigou's assessment of the conditions for peace is also compared with those formulated at the time by William Cunningham, Bertrand Russell and Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson. The study ends with a critical reflection on Pigou’s plan for ending the war.

Keywords: peace; war costs; reparations; foreign policy; commercial integration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30
Date: 2017
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