About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


60 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1945)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry60 and id is 1 raw text is: Volume LX] POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY ECONOMIC CONTROLS AFTER THE WAR GOVERNMENT control of economic activity has grown uninterruptedly since the Great Depression. The war has underlined this trend to such a degree that few fields of business or consumption activity are left untouched by government control in some way. The question arises, quite naturally, Is this but a transitory development, caused by excep- tional circumstances, or has extended government control of economic activity come to stay? Many people will answer this question in terms of their gen- eral ideological attitudes in regard to free enterprise, socialism, etc. Past experience, however, enables us to predict that these ideological attitudes will exert a secondary r8le in determining whether, and to what extent, government control of economic activity is going to stay. The question will be de- cided not by ideological preferences but by practical neces- sities. In the decade which preceded the war and during the present war, government control has grown not because of but in spite of the preferences of public opinion. It has done so be- cause, given the structure of our economy and the mode of operation of our political system, it has become necessary to keep the economy from breaking down due to unemployment and subsequently to inflation, and the necessity of supplying the goods essential to the prosecution of the war. Whether it will continue after the war will depend on whether it will prove to be necessary. The question must be answered in terms of the problems which will confront our economy after the war. These problems may be classified as follows: (1) the mainte- nance of full employment, (2) the control of monopoly, and (1) March z9405 [ Number z