Clifford Douglas
British economist
Also known as: Clifford Hugh Douglas
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- :
- Jan. 20, 1879, Stockport, Cheshire, Eng.
- :
- Sept. 29, 1952, Dundee, Scot.
- Subjects Of Study:
- Social Credit
- Also Known As:
- Clifford Hugh Douglas
Clifford Douglaswas a British economist and originator of the theory of Social Credit.
He began a career in engineering and management, but societyâs failure to utilize modern technology fully stimulated his interest in economic theories. These were expounded (1919) in The New Age, the socialist publication of Alfred Richard Orage, and in Douglasâ first book, Economic Democracy (1920). His basic idea was that the remedy for the chronic deficiency of purchasing power in the economy would be the issuance of additional money to consumers, or of subsidies to producers, in order to liberate production from the price system. Douglasâ ideas attracted considerable public attention in the early 1920s, but the only extensive following was in Alberta, Canada, where the Social Credit Party was founded in 1935. The party dominated the provinceâs politics until 1971, but Douglasâ principles were virtually abandoned in the late 1930s.
