ABSTRACT
The title of this book suggests that there is a question as to whether the British economy since 1914 has been ‘a study in decline’. This may seem surprising. Even before the First World War, deficiencies by comparison with the USA, Germany and other countries had been remarked upon. Since then, there has been the inter-war slump and, subsequently, the disappearance of much of Britain’s traditional in dustrial base and a litany of criticism of this country’s economic performance in relation to, first, the rest of western Europe and, more recently, countries on the Asian shores of the Pacific Ocean. Even the slightly more encouraging comparisons, with Europe at least, of the past decade have been seen in terms of a levelling down to Britain’s standards.
