ABSTRACT
Has Britain undergone an economic renaissance? To answer this question, we need to compare Britain’s economic performance and policies pre-1979 with what followed during the 1980s. If the improvement in economic performance over the last decade proves to have been a uniquely British phenomenon-linked to the policies of the Conservative government and not just the result of a cyclical upswing in world economic activity-then we can conclude that Britain’s position has improved significantly relative to other countries. Although the British economy temporarily moved into recession during the early 1990s, this downturn was essentially a correction following the years of rapid economic growth during the late 1980s. This chapter is concerned less with the ‘Lawson boom’ and its aftermath than with the preceding period, during which Mrs Thatcher’s administration laid the foundations for Britain’s improved long-term performance.
