Rationalisation and Unemployment (Routledge Revivals)

First published in 1930, John Hobson’s study deals with the economic dilemmas generated in the early twentieth century by the advent of mass production. Namely the over-production and surfeit of goods and the resultant failure of the expansion of markets leading to record levels of mass unemployment.

Seeking a solution to this dilemma, Hobson analyses all aspects of the problem: income, uses of the surplus, underconsumption, markets and distribution, and internationalism. The study also explores theories concerning economies of rationalisation, both in terms of productivity and consumption.