Britain's Trade and Exchange-Rate Policy

The National Institute has launched a series of conferences on important issues of economic policy. The conference papers and accounts of the conference discussions are being published by Heinemann Educational Books. The first two books in the series, entitled Demand Management and De-industrialisation, were the outcome of conferences held in December 1977 and June 1978 respectively. The third book, of which this article gives a brief summary under the same title, appeared this month, following a conference in June 1979. The purpose of the conference was to provide a forum for discussion of the trade and exchange-rate policies which the United Kingdom should pursue domestically and advocate in the international arena, and the choice of topics reflects the attention recently devoted there to non-tariff barriers to trade, general economic relations between North and South, the European Monetary System, and its differing implications for debtor and creditor countries. Future studies will be conducted under the joint sponsorship of the National Institute, the Policy Studies Institute and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The first under the new arrangement will take place next month, with ‘Britain in Europe’ as its theme. The series has been started with financial support from the Nuffield Foundation.