Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through: The surprising story of Britain's economy from boom to bust and back again

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Hart, S., and C. Banbury. 1994. How strategy-making processes can make a difference. Strategic Management Journal 15: 251–269. The book has a few themes throughout the narrative - the importance of path dependence, the benefits of specialisation at various points (like the decline of agriculture during the World Wars that allowed Britain to focus on manufacturing and financial support for the Allies) or the impact of political decisions on economic reality (like the allocation of costs in things like the Corn Laws, the influence of the growth of home ownership on interest rate decisions etc). All of these points should be more present in the public debate, not just in Britain. A great little book going through the economic history of the UK since the Industrial Revolution, covering the issues of each time and the ideas driving decision making of the politicians in power. Writing style was engaging and witty, and made the book far more readable than the subject matter would suggest. It’s fair to say that Weldon succeeds in answering it with his pacy, vivid canter through the Industrial Revolution, two World Wars, post-war decline and resurgence in the 1980s, right up to the current crisis. The UK is, at the same time, both one of the world’s most successful economies and one of Europe’s laggards. The country contains some of Western Europe’s richest areas such as the south east of England, but also some of its poorest such as the north east or Wales. Looking into the past helps understand why.

Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through - Hachette UK Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through - Hachette UK

For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. The ideas of influential economists such as Smith, Keynes and Friedman are highlighted. The influence of these ideas on government policy and thinking is also discussed. One of the traditions in the bounded rationality line of thinking is incrementalism – otherwise known as ‘muddling through’. It was conceived by Charles Lindblom in two key articles (Lindblom Public Adm Rev 19: 79–88, 1959; Public Adm Rev 39: 517–526, 1979), and it has influenced the management literature in several ways. Keywords Economic rent has always been a factor in developed economies. Economic rents are a way of enriching oneself without producing anything extra, such as renting out a property, the rent of which is a product of demand and supply more than producing economic value. Open societies do not rely on economic rents for growth. Britain during the late 1600s- mid 1700s had an open internal market within the UK where goods could be sold across the country. Spain and France did not, which enabled landowners to make a lot of money, but not actually contribute to economic growth. Britain was therefore able to win the wars with countries by having a more tax producing economy. Again, the parallels to today jump out. movement of people within the UK is being hampered by high rents/social liquidity, keeping poor people and poor areas poor. Post revolution Britain was much better than the pre-version, where land/rents took nearly 24% of national income, compared to 11% after. Centuries of a largely agrarian economy vanished with the Industrial Revolution. Productivity and standards of living rose. The population and production moved from homes in the country to crowded towns. Increased coal production was needed to power mills. Canal traffic rose and railways boomed.If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. An in-depth historical analysis of British economic policies. As someone who is totally new to the subject, this felt far too detailed and a lot of it went over my head. My eyes glazed over throughout many chunks of this book. However, for such a detailed book, the author mentioned the British Empire maybe twice, and given what a massive impact the Empire had on the British economy, I expected at least a chapter, or even half a chapter dedicated to it. I felt like large chunks of history (1990s to today) were also rushed. Globalisation ebbs and flows. The world of 1914 was much more globalised in relative terms that the world economy of 1979. Britain was the premier financial centre of the world in the late Victorian world, declined during the war years (1914 – 1970), and them boomed again between 1980 and the 2008. The UK is, at the same time, both one of the world’s most successful economies and one of Europe’s laggards. The country contains some of Western Europe’s richest areas such as the south east of England, but also some of its poorest such as the north east or Wales. It’s really not much of an exaggeration to describe the UK, in economic terms, as ‘Portugal but with Singapore in the bottom corner’. Looking into the past helps understand why.

Muddling-Through Theory | SpringerLink Muddling-Through Theory | SpringerLink

Muddling Through’ is a superb, detailed overview, charting 200 years of British economic history. For a nation immersed in the traditions of entrepreneurial innovation and ambitious start-up companies, it’s surprising how little space economic history seems to occupy in the minds of the general population. Surely all British school children should be given a more detailed idea of how the Capitalist engines of The City of London operate, considering their enormous influence on the economy. 2008 reminds us of how high are the stakes when the global financial system goes wrong. Surely such scandalous collapses would be less likely if the masters of the financial universe were held to account by an educated, informed population…The book shows how the Industrial Revolution essentially set the UK off on a path which has taken other countries in Europe the best part of c150 years to catch up with and how, more recently, the UK has struggled to work out what economic a coherent economic approach looks like (the Brexit debate is highlighted as typical of this incoherent approach).