Food waste in the United Kingdom Meanwhile, in the United States (where shortages were hardly comparable), legislators considered laws restricting the distribution of food in order to cut waste, breaches of which might be punishable by fines or imprisonment. During World War II, rationing was imposed almost immediately. Restrictions were immediately more stringent than in the Great War as with effect from 8 January 1940, ration books were issued and most foods were subject to ration. By August 1940, legislation was passed that made the wasting of food a prisonable offence. Posters encouraged kitchen waste to be used for feeding animals, primarily swine but also poultry.
Credit rationing mechanism of monetary policy. Drawing on the famous Oxford surveys of businessmen in the 1930s he argued that it was likely that changes in the interest rate did not have a substantial effect on investment decisions. Harrod went on to argue that the main channel through which interest rates curtailed economic activity was through the process of what is now known as credit rationing. He wrote that: "It is essentially the imperfection of the capital market that makes monetary policy a powerful weapon." Credit rationing Credit rationing is the limiting by lenders of the supply of additional credit to borrowers