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Derivation of UK Public Spending for 1900 - 1950

by Christopher Chantrill
August 2, 2008

RECORDS of public spending in the United Kingdom for the half century from 1900 to 1950 are not readily available.to the researcher. To assemble an approximate data series we have combined tables of current spending from National Income, Expenditure, and Output in the United Kingdom 1855-1965 (NIEO) by C.H. Feinstein with tables of spending published in The Growth of Public Expenditure in the United Kingdom by Alan T. Peacock and Jack Wiseman.

From National Income, Expenditure, and Output in the United Kingdom 1855-1965 we have abstracted the values of total central government current spending for 1900 to 1950 from Table 12, Current Account of Central Government (including National Insurance Funds), 1900-65. From Table 13, Current Account of Local Authorities, 1900-65 we have abstracted the values of local authority current spending for 1900 thru 1950.

From The Growth of Public Expenditure in the United Kingdom we have abstracted public spending by function for the period 1900 to 1950. But the spending data in Growth is only available for selected years: 1900, 1905, 1910, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1920-38, and 1950-55. You can view the entire text of Growth here.

To assemble a continuous data series for each government function we have used the NIEO continuous series of total central government and local authority current spending as a guide for overall spending in the “gap” years. The following procedure is used.

1. Total government spending for each gap year is derived by imposing the trend of NIEO spending over the gap years.
2. Non-defence spending (including debt interest) is assumed to trend smoothly at a fixed percentage over the gap years.
3. Defence spending is calculated by subracting all other spending from total spending.

Here is how this works for central government spending in the period 1900-05. The period starts with elevated military spending for the Boer War.

Here is how the derivation works for the years after the start of National Insurance and for the Great War years.

For the years of the Second World War there is a gap of eleven years. Of course, the reconstruction is very approximate. It misses the start of the National Health Service, and it must severely underestimate the capital consumption of the war years.

Note: All social services, including health, education, and social protection, are included here under “Social Services.”

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email an inquiry to principal researcher Christopher Chantrill

Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com.  His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.

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