British Empire Economic Conference

The British Empire Economic Conference was a 1932 conference of British colonies and the automous dominions held to discuss the Great Depression. It was held between July 21 and August 20 in Ottawa, Canada.

The conference saw the group admit the failure of the gold standard and abandon attempts to return to it. The meeting also worked to establish a zone of limited tariffs within the British Empire, but with high tariffs with the rest of the world. This abandoning of free trade leade to a split in the British government.

The conference especially notable for its adoption of Keynsian ideas such as lowering interest rates, increasing the money supply, and exapnding government spending.