Hawtrey fundamentally thought that in moments of economic downturn the creation of bank credit alone would be suffi cient to increase employment, and that public works would be “unnecessary.” He put it strongly: “Th e public works are merely a piece of ritual, convenient to people who want to be able to say that they are doing something, but otherwise irrelevant. To stimulate an expansion of credit is usually only too easy. To resort for the purpose to the construction of expensive public works is to burn down the house for the sake of the roast pig” (Hawtrey 1925b, 44).

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 1695