The economic environment

Objectives and learning outcomes National economies are characterized by upswings and downswings. The UK, for example, witnessed the boom years of the mid-1980s – characterized by rising profits – as well as the profound recession of the early 1990s – characterized by rising bankruptcies. The period 1994-2004 saw the UK economy performing well witnessing an unusually stable period of modest economic growth. On the other hand the economy of China has demonstrated rapid economic growth in the decade 1994-2002, whilst the Japanese economy has languished in a prolonged recession.