The maintenance of low interest rates during a period of recession to encourage investment. This policy was followed in the UK during the 1930s and 1940s. It was not very successful in stimulating investment in the 1930s, except in housing. While cheap money may have been a necessary condition for recovery, it was not a sufficient one: it was described at the time as ‘trying to push on a string’. In the post-war period of widespread excess demand, cheap money merely worsened the problems which had to be tackled by rationing and price controls.