Suchergebnisse

This book charts the course of monetary policy in the UK from 1967 to 1982. It shows how events such as the 1967 devaluation, the collapse of Bretton Woods, the stagflation of the 1970s, and the IMF loan of 1976 all shaped policy. It shows that the 'monetarist' experiment of the 1980s was based on a fundamental misreading of 1970s monetary policy.

UK Monetary Policy from Devaluation to Thatcher, 1967-1982 charts the course of monetary policy in the UK from the 1960s to the early 1980s. It shows how events such as the 1967 sterling devaluation, the collapse of Bretton Woods, the stagflation of the 1970s and the International Monetary Fund loan of 1976 all shaped policy. It challenges the existing historiography by showing the Bank of England and the UK Treasury experimenting with money supply 'targets' nearly a decade before the Thatcher government placed monetarism at the heart of economic policy. By misreading the monetary history of the 1970s, the Thatcher government subjected the UK economy to a recession of unnecessary depth and severity that required the monetary policy U-turn of the 1981 budget, the most controversial in post-war British history. Fiscal policy was tightened ₆ to the bewilderment of much of the economics profession; monetary policy was loosened -- to the relief of British business. This rebalancing allowed personal consumption, through increased household debt, to become the engine of growth in the 1980s. This failure to heed the lessons of 1970s monetary policy, and the subsequent increase in personal debt, has had profound long-term consequences for the shape of the British economy.

Humanity is confronted by and attracted to extremes. Extreme events shape our thinking, feeling, and actions; they echo in our politics, media, literature, and science. We often associate extremes with crises, disasters, and risks to be averted, yet extremes also have the potential to lead us towards new horizons. Featuring essays by leading intellectuals and public figures arising from the 2017 Darwin College Lectures, this volume explores 'extreme' events, from the election of President Trump, the rise of populism, and the Brexit referendum, to the 2008 financial crisis, the Syrian war, and climate change. It also celebrates 'extreme' achievements in the realms of health, exploration, and scientific discovery. A fascinating, engaging, and timely collection of essays by renowned scholars, journalists, and intellectuals, this volume challenges our understanding of what is normal and what is truly extreme, and sheds light on some of the issues facing humanity in the twenty-first century

In its 1981 Budget, the Thatcher government discarded Keynesian counter-cyclical policies and cut Britain's public sector deficit in the depths of the worst UK recession since the 1930s. Controversially, the government argued that fiscal contraction would produce economic growth. In this specially commissioned volume, contributors examine recently released archives alongside firsthand accounts from key players within No. 10 Downing Street, HM Treasury and the Bank of England, to provide the first comprehensive treatment of this critical event in British economic history. They assess the empirical and theoretical basis for expansionary fiscal contraction, drawing clear parallels with contemporary debates on austerity in Europe, USA and Japan in the wake of the recent global financial crisis. This timely and thoughtful book will have broad appeal among economists, political scientists, historians and policy makers