The British Empire Economic Conference (also known as the Imperial Economic Conference or Ottawa Conference) was a 1932 conference of British colonies and dominions held to discuss the Great Depression. It was held between 21 July and 20 August in Ottawa. The conference saw the group admit the failure of the

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the l ...

and abandon attempts to return to it. The meeting also worked to establish a zone of limited tariffs within the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

, but with high tariffs with the rest of the world. This was called "

Imperial preference Imperial Preference was a system of mutual tariff reduction enacted throughout the British Empire following the Ottawa Conference of 1932. As Commonwealth Preference, the proposal was later revived in regard to the members of the Commonwealth of N ...

" or "Empire Free-Trade" on the principle of "home producers first, empire producers second, and foreign producers last". The result of the conference was a series of bilateral agreements that would last for at least 5 years. This abandonment of open free trade led to a split in the British National Government coalition: the Official Liberals under

Herbert Samuel Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, (6 November 1870 – 5 February 1963) was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935. He was the first nominally-practising Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to be ...

left the Government, but the National Liberals under Sir John Simon remained. The conference was especially notable for its adoption of

Keynesian Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...

ideas such as lowering

interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...

s, increasing the money supply, and expanding government spending.

Heads of delegations

The conference was hosted by the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...

, The Earl of Bessborough, representing King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

and included the Prime Ministers and other leaders of the Empire and members of their respective cabinets:

Notes

Sources

British Empire Economic Conference
''

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'', 25 July 1932 * Barry Eichengreen and Douglas A. Irwin, "Trade blocs, currency blocs and the reorientation of world trade in the 1930s", ''

Journal of International Economics The ''Journal of International Economics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of economics. The journal publishes articles on both theoretical and empirical aspects of international economics. Various topics covered include trade pat ...

'', Volume 38, Issues 1–2, February 1995, Pages 1–24 * Robert A. MacKay, "Imperial Economics at Ottawa", '' Pacific Affairs'', Vol. 5, No. 10 (Oct. 1932), pp. 873–885 * Maxwell Slutz Stewart, ''The Ottawa conference'',

Foreign Policy Association The Foreign Policy Association (formerly known as the League of Free Nations Association) is a non-profit organization founded in 1918 dedicated to inspiring the American public to learn more about the world. The Foreign Policy Association aims to ...

, incorporated, 1932 * {{Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings Imperial Conference History of the Commonwealth of Nations 20th-century diplomatic conferences 1932 in Canada 1932 in economics 1932 in international relations Diplomatic conferences in Canada Great Depression Gold standard History of Ottawa Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations 1932 conferences Economic Conference 20th century in Ottawa July 1932 events August 1932 events 1932 in Ontario

Heads of delegations

See also

Notes

Sources