Table of Contents

1: Introduction
Part I. Prior Assumptions and Methodological Preliminaries
2: The Facts which Have to be Explained
3: The Causal Structure of the Economy
4: Supply and Demand Influence on the Rate of Growth
5: Shocks and Response in Major Fluctuations
Part II. Case Studies of Five Major Recessions
6: The Two Interwar Recessions (1920-22 and 1929-32) and the US Great Depression
7: The Prolonged Interval without Major Recession 1945-73
8: The Two OPEC Recessions (1973-75 and 1979-82)
9: The Credit Expansion of the late Eighties and the Recession of the Early Nineties
Part III. Conclusions
10: The Theoretical Model: The Behaviour of the Economy in Major Fluctuations
11: The Causation of Major Recessions: Summary and Discussion of Empirical Findings
12: Are Recurrent Major Recessions Inevitable?

About the Author

Before his death in 1998, Christopher Dow was Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). His distinguished career included periods as Senior Economic Adviser to the UK Treasury, Deputy Director of NIESR, Assistant Secretary General of OECD, and Executive Director of the Bank of England.

Reviews

`Dow's critiqye of contemporary trends in macroeconomic thought is as pointed as it is refreshing ... The book is reasoned, erudite, packed with quantitative information of great use, and resolutely engaged with contemporary debates concerning macroeconomic theory and policy ... Major Recessions rewards the patient and disciplined reader with a concrete appreciation of the powers of the Keynesian view. At the same time, it stands in testimony to the work
of a fine scholar, now lost to us, who was never afraid to subject his ideas to the punishing scrutiny of Whitehall and Threadneedle Street.'
Michael A.Bernstein, Business History Review
`a powerful restatement of the Keynesian approach to the study of business cycles, one that clearly (and at times passionately) rejects the current popular applications and nostrums of a new classical economics.'
Michael A.Bernstein, Business History Review
`...a fascinating book...a fitting epitaph.'
David Smith. The Sunday Times. 13/12/1998.
`Because it tackles one of the most important issues facing policy-makers, the book will reach a wider audience than that received by the usual economic tome. It deserves to. The interesting thing about the Dow book is that it deals with the crucial issue of whether the downward swing of the cycle develops into a serious recession.'
Hamish McRae. The Independent. 10/12/1998.
`In his magisterial study of recessions, published last year, the late Christopher Dow brought out how different things can be.'
Martin Wolf. The Finacial Times. 26/4/1999I
Reviewed in Long Range Planning, October 1999. OK review but no quotes to pull out.