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Growth, De-Regulation and Rent-Seeking in Post-War British Economy

Author

Listed:
  • S.P. Chakravarty

    (Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University, UK)

  • D.D. Thomakos

    (Department of Economics, University of Peloponnese, Greece; Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Italy)

  • K. Nikolopoulos

    (Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University, UK)

Abstract

There is a view that the financial sector of the post-war British economy was in need of reform that was postponed to the detriment of growth for 30 years until liberalisation started in full earnest after the election of 1979. There is another side of the story in this comparison. The first three decades of the post war period witnessed a decline in the share of wages accruing to the top percentile of earners. The trend was reversed around 1979, without any commensurate rise in output per person employed. The average growth rate of GDP in the second period was no greater than that in the first period because cyclical fluctuations were deeper. The de-regulation of the financial system allowed for recycling the wealth of the rich to contribute to housing inflation and rent seeking opportunities, creating an illusion of prosperity.

Suggested Citation

  • S.P. Chakravarty & D.D. Thomakos & K. Nikolopoulos, 2013. "Growth, De-Regulation and Rent-Seeking in Post-War British Economy," Working Paper series 64_13, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    • Handle: RePEc:rim:rimwps:64_13
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial liberalisation; Productivity trends; Growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N24 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: 1913-
    • P34 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Finance
    • Z19 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Other

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