Summary Report of Round Table Discussions relating to Papers by Goran Ohlin and André Marchal

Abstract

When in 1933 President Roosevelt first came to power in the United States the American economy was in a sorry state. One-quarter of the labour force was out of a job, the banks were closed, everything possible was going wrong, and the President, very rightly, took advice from all and sundry. It so happened that in one morning he saw in succession two Senators who were well known to hold diametrically opposed views on economic policy. One was an inflationary Senator and the other a deflationary Senator. First the deflationary Senator entered the President’s room; after an hour he came out, with a broad grin on his face, rubbing his hands with glee, and Mrs Roosevelt, who was in the ante-room, said, ‘Senator, how did you get on?’, and he said, ‘Fine, absolutely fine, The President said to me, “Senator, you’re right, you’re absolutely right, you’re a hundred per cent right”.’ Then the inflationary Senator entered the President’s office and after an hour he, too, came out. He, too, had a broad grin on his face; he, too, was rubbing his hands with glee. Mrs Roosevelt said, ‘How did you get on Senator with the President?’ and he said, ‘Fine, absolutely fine.The President said to me, “Senator, you’re right, you’re absolutely right, you’re a hundred per cent right”.’ Whereupon Mrs Roosevelt, somewhat surprised at her husband’s apparent inconsistency, herself entered the Presidential Office and upbraided him gently. ‘How the devil’, she said, ‘can you possibly agree with these two men when everyone knows that they hold diametrically opposed views on economic policy?’ And the President said, ‘Eleanor, you’re right, you’re absolutely right, you’re a hundred per cent right.’