G. C. Peden
George C. Peden is an emeritus professor of history at Stirling University, Scotland. He has written about the British Treasury; Keynesian economics; economic aspects of defence and foreign policy; the welfare state, and some recent Scottish economic history. He was born in Dundee in 1943 and educated at Grove Academy, Broughty Ferry. He worked for eight years as a sub-editor of the Dundee Evening Telegraph before becoming a mature student at Dundee University, graduating MA with first class honours in modern history in 1972. He was a postgraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford, and a research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, London, and graduated D.Phil. from Oxford in 1976, having completed his thesis under the supervision of Professor N.H. Gibbs. He was a temporary lecturer in history, Leeds University, 1976–1977; lecturer in economic and social history, and then reader in economic history, Bristol University, 1977–1990; and professor of history, Stirling University, 1990–2008. He was a British Academy research reader, 1987–1989, and visiting fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1988–1989, and St Catherine's College, Oxford, 2002. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. According to the first version of this article, probably written by a student, Peden had a reputation for insisting on high standards of grammar in essays, perhaps reflecting his earlier career as a sub-editor. He lives in Callander, on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, and divides his time between hillwalking and research and writing.
Publications
Books
- British Rearmament and the Treasury, 1932-1939
- British Economic and Social Policy: Lloyd George to Margaret Thatcher
- Keynes, the Treasury and British Economic Policy
- The Treasury and British Public Policy, 1906-1959
- Keynes and his Critics: Treasury Responses to the Keynesian Revolution 1925-1946
- The Transformation of Scotland: The Economy since 1700
- Arms, Economics and British Strategy: From Dreadnoughts to Hydrogen Bombs .
Articles in journals and chapters in books
- Sir Warren Fisher and British rearmament against Germany, English Historical Review, vol. 94, pp. 29–47
- Keynes, the Treasury and unemployment in the later 1930s, Oxford Economic Papers, vol. 32, pp. 1–18
- Keynes, the economics of rearmament and appeasement, in W. J. Mommsen and J. Kettenacker, The Fascist Challenge and Appeasement, pp. 142–56
- Sir Richard Hopkins and the 'Keynesian revolution' in employment policy, 1929-45', Economic History Review, vol. 36, pp. 281–96
- The Treasury as the central department of government, 1919–1939, Public Administration, vol. 61, pp. 235–50
- Arms, government and businessmen, 1935–1945, in J. Turner, Businessmen and Politics: Studies of Business Activity in British Politics, 1900-1945, pp. 130–45 and 191-3
- The burden of imperial defence and the continental commitment reconsidered, Historical Journal, vol. 27, pp. 405–23
- A matter of timing: the economic background to British foreign policy, 1937–1939, History, vol. 69, pp. 15–28 - also published as Perceptions britanniques de la puissance economique a la fin des annees 1930, in R. Girault and R. Frank, La Puissance en Europe 1938-1940, pp. 187–202
- The 'Treasury view' on public works and employment in the interwar period, Economic History Review, vol. 37,, pp. 167–81
- Economic aspects of British perceptions of power on the eve of the Cold War, in J. Becker and F. Knipping, Power in Europe? Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany in a Postwar World, 1945-1950, pp. 237–61
- Keynes, in S. Glynn and A. Booth, The Road to Full Employment, pp. 97–108
- Old dogs and new tricks: the British Treasury and Keynesian economics in the 1940s and 1950s, in M. O. Furner and B. Supple, The State and Economic Knowledge: The American and British Experiences, pp. 208–38
- Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain and the defence of Empire', in J. B. Hattendorf and M. H. Murfettt, The Limitations of Military Power, pp. 160–72
- Economic aspects of British perceptions of power, in E. Di Nolfo, Power in Europe? II: Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy and the Origins of the EEC, 1952-1957, pp. 139–59
- An agenda for the economic history of twentieth-century Scotland, Scottish Economic and Social History, vol. 13, pp. 5–26
- Modernisierung in den 50er Jahren - die britische Erfahrung, in A. Schildt and A. Sywottek, Modernisierung im Wiederaufbau. Die westdeutsche Gesellschaft der 50er Jahre, pp. 47–68
- The road to and from Gairloch: Lloyd George, unemployment, inflation, and the 'Treasury view' in 1921, Twentieth Century British History, vol. 4, pp. 224–49
- Economic Knowledge and the state in modern Britain, in S. J. D. Green and R. C. Whiting, The Boundaries of the State in modern Britain, pp. 170–87
- The Treasury view in the interwar period: an example of political economy? in B. Corry, Unemployment and the Economists, pp. 69–88
- From cheap government to efficient government: the political economy of public expenditure, 1832–1914, in D. Winch and P. K. O'Brien, The Political Economy of British Economic Experience, 1688-1914, pp. 351–78
- British Treasury responses to the Keynesian revolution, 1925–1939, Annals of the Society for the History of Economic Thought, no. 44, pp. 31–44
- The Treasury and the City, in R. Michie and P. Williamson, The British Government and the City of London in the Twentieth Century, pp. 117–34
- The managed economy: Scotland, 1919–2000, in T. M. Devine, C. H. Lee and G. C. Peden, The Transformation of Scotland: The Economy since 1700, pp. 233–65.
- Keynes and British economic policy, in R. E. Backhouse and B. W. Bateman, The Cambridge Companion to Keynes, pp. 98–117
- The Treasury and the defence of empire, in G. Kennedy, Imperial Defence: The Old World Order 1856-1956, pp. 71–110
- Financing Churchill's army, in K. Neilson and G. Kennedy, The British Way in Warfare: Power and the International System, 1856-1956, pp. 277–99
- Sir Horace Wilson and appeasement, Historical Journal, vol. 53, pp. 983–1014.
- War and peace: the British Army after the victories of 1918 and 1945, in P. Dennis and J. Grey, Victory or Defeat: Armies in the Aftermath of Conflict, pp. 81–103.
- A new Scotland? The economy, in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History, pp. 652–70.
- Suez and Britain's decline as a world power, Historical Journal, vol. 55, pp. 1073–1096.
- Recognising and responding to relative decline: The case of post-war Britain, Diplomacy & Statecraft, vol. 24, pp. 59–76.
- Merging National Insurance contributions and income tax: lessons of history, Economic Affairs, vol. 34, pp. 2–13.
- Chamberlain, the British Army and the 'continental commitment', in M. Murfett Shaping British Foreign and Defence Policy in the Twentieth Century, pp. 86–110.
- The Royal Navy and Grand Strategy, 1937–1941, in N. Rodger, J. Dancy, B. Darnell and E. Wilson Strategy and the Sea, pp. 148–58.
- Liberal economists and the British welfare state: from Beveridge to the New Right, in Roger E. Backhouse, Bradley W. Bateman, Tamotsu Nishizawa and Dieter Plehwe Liberalism and the Welfare State, pp. 39–56.
- Neoliberal economists and the British welfare state, 1942–1975, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, vol. 39, pp. 413–27.