How to Pay for the War: A Radical Plan for the Chancellor of the Exchequer

vii + 88 pp. Printed by Purnell and Sons, Ltd., Paulton (Somerset) and London

First impression of the true first edition, published in 1940. There were two issues of this book - the first was in blue-green paper covered boards, as with this issue, and there was a second printing in pale orange paper covered boards, which incorporated some corrections to the text, and is less common than the earlier uncorrected version. With a four page Preface by J. M. Keynes, King's College, Cambridge, February, 1940.
Very good in blue-green paper covered printed boards with black titles and borders on the front board. Spine complete but with one 1.5 inch tear to the base (see photo) The bottom right-hand corner of the rear board is slightly creased. Light grey or blue pencil underlinings on several pages of text as well as marginal notes on the appendix. No foxing. Spine tight. No dustwrapper was issued as this was a cheap war economy production. It is priced at 1 shilling net (on front cover).

190mm x 125mm. vii + 88 pages including Appendices.
Contents:
Preface;
Ch. I.: The Character of the Problem;
II.: The Character of the Solution;
III.: Our Output Capacity and the National Income;
IV.: Can the Rich Pay for the War?;
V.: A Plan for Deferred Pay, Family Allowances and a Cheap Ration;
VI.: Details;
VII.: The Release of Deferred Pay and a Capital Levy;
VIII.: Rationing, Price Control and Wage Control;
IX.: Voluntary Saving and the Mechanism of Inflation;
X.: The System Adopted in France.

Appendices:
I. The National Income;
II. The extent of our Resources Abroad;
III. The Cost of Family Allowances;
IV. The Formula for Deferred Pay.
Acknowledgments

How to Pay for the War: A Radical Plan for the Chancellor of the Exchequer is an application of Keynesian thinking and principles to a practical economic problem, and a relatively late text [Keynes died in 1946]. Keynes describes a macroeconomic strategy of how Britain, a nation with a population at the time of 40 million people, could conduct a long war against Germany, a nation of 80 million. At the time "How to Pay for the War" was written, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were at war with either Germany or Japan. As a result, the first step for Britain to effectively conduct a war against Germany was to mobilize all its resources for production. Keynes maintained, however, that the resources of Britain, even at full employment, would not suffice to conduct a war against Germany.

A first issue of the true first edition of John Maynard Keynes' "How to Pay for the War", in good condition. A fragile wartime production of Keynes's most notorious essay in persuasion, the application of his General Theory to a wartime economy.