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

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With a laissez- faire government, Britain was the wealthiest country in the world in c1900 but it was not to last. During WW1 the state intervened demanding munitions, nationalising industries and introducing rationing. Rapid population decline is not what governments want, as like Spain in the 1930, there are not enough people to harvest the corn. The only slightly negative notes I would make: I wasn’t sure that the book and its conclusions lived up to the grand title. movement of people within the UK is being hampered by high rents/social liquidity, keeping poor people and poor areas poor.

Years of Muddling Through: The surprising story Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through: The surprising story

As others have noted, in this case it’s definitely the role of the Empire which is dealt with briefly and then skipped past. The author does an excellent job of communicating some dry ideas on path dependency, political economy and the gold standard, and how they have formed the modern UK.

It was because of a strong economy that Britain could fund total war and strong links to venerable institutions like JP Morgan who acted as the UK’s financier. That's the rather daunting exam question The Economist's Duncan Weldon sets himself in his newly released book 200 Years of Muddling Through - The surprising story of Britain's economy from boom to bust and back again. Changes and details which might seem small, such as membership or non-membership of the European Union, have very big and lasting long-term impacts on the UK’s economy and performance.

Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through | Book reviews | SPE

If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice. This text is essential reading for understanding the issues that have haunted the UK economy, such as poor relations between labour and capital.