Abstract
IN the first number of Trends A Monthly Graphical Review of Business Movements (H. White-head and Staff, 20 Buckingham Gate, S.W.I, October 1935), Mr. Harold Macmillan contributes an interesting article on “Equalising Supply and Demand” in which he emphasises the importance of planning an adjustment of productive effort, so as to ensure the production of all goods and services in the quantities which will enable them to exchange for one another at prices covering their production costs. The regulation of production in relation to demand for the products of each industry requires that some common policy should be pursued by all the units collectively, for example, in regard to scientific research, observance of standard wages and conditions, maintenance of standards of quality or standardisation of the range of patterns. But as things are, a common policy must depend on voluntary agreements, and in the great majority of cases voluntary agreements break down because, when they have created conditions of stability and profitability, other producers are attracted who can exploit the market by the old methods. Mr. Macmillan therefore urges that it is necessary to give industry legal powers to enforce upon a recalcitrant minority decisions which have been approved by a large majority of the producers and have been sanctioned by Parliament. It is essential, however, that there should be adequate safeguards to defend the general public interest and the special interests of consumers and workers affected in each case.
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Equalising Supply and Demand. Nature 136, 947 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136947a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136947a0