A theory advanced by the social economist Clifford Douglas, to eliminate the concentration of economic power. It became popular in Canada and New Zealand at the time of the Great Depression. In Canada a Social Credit Party, led by William Aberhart, won an overwhelming victory in Alberta in 1935 and remained in power until 1971 without, however, implementing many of Douglas’s ideas. In 1952 it won an election in British Colombia, but never gained more than a handful of federal seats in Ottawa, and largely disappeared after 1980. A New Zealand Social Credit Party was formed in 1953 and held up to two seats in the New Zealand Parliament until 1987. The party survives as the New Zealand Democratic Party for Social Credit.