A complete run of this series of twelve “weighty supplements” to the Manchester Guardian Commercial published under the general editorship of John Maynard Keynes, who would also contribute a total of twelve signed articles to the project, some of substantial length and importance. The series was intended to survey the economic and financial problems and prospects of post-war Europe, and included contributions by “the most distinguished authorities in each country” such as Gustav Cassel, Luigi Einaudi, Irving Fisher, and A. C. Pigou (Harrod, Life of Keynes, p. 312).
“During 1922 the great Manchester Guardian Supplements were the main vehicle for the expression of Keynes’s views. They were entitled Reconstruction in Europe and covered the whole field of finance, industry, trade and labour. Some of the issues were general, some specialised on some such topic as shipping or oil. To almost all Keynes contributed an introductory article, which summarised the subject and usually had some interesting ideas. In the first issue there was a lengthy article on ‘The Theory of purchasing power parity’ and another one on ‘Forward Exchanges,’ which give a full account of the theory, which he subsequently summarised in his Tract on Monetary Reform” (Harrod, p. 312f).
“An ‘important and novel feature’ of the First Supplement, which ran through all twelve issues, was the business ‘barometer’, based on an ‘index’ of business conditions. Compiled for Europe by the London School of Economics and for the United States by the Economic Research Department of Harvard University, these barometers claimed to be able to forecast changes in the economic weather” (Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Saviour, p. 102).
“In the eleventh issue Keynes made a frontal attack on deflation. The magnitude of the internal debt of most European countries was the main reason why it was impossible to restore the value of their currencies to their former level. But this was not the only reason. Deflation would cause business depression and unemployment. He cited an article by Professor Irving Fisher in the same issue ‘written with overwhelming force and lucidity’. This article by Keynes was his first to sound a clear warning against the evils of deflation and may therefore be regarded as the preface to the work which was to absorb his interests for the next fifteen years and to lead him far from his original starting-point” (Harrod, p. 314).
A hugely ambitious publishing endeavour, the supplements were also published in French, German, Italian, and Spanish as well as English. Of the twelve issues, eleven date from 1922 (20 April, 18 May, 15 June, 6 July, 27 July, 17 August, 7 September, 28 September, 26 October, 16 November, 7 December) and one from 1923 (4 January).
Moggridge, D 229.1-15.
