Microeconomic Reform in Britain: Delivering Opportunities for All provides a comprehensive guide to the extensive microeconomic reforms implemented over the last 6 years to realise the UK Government's goals: a stronger more enterprising economy and a fairer society. This companion volume to Reforming Britain's Economic and Financial Policy: Towards Greater Economic Stability , published in 2002, offers a detailed account of a programme of reforms which together constitute a comprehensive strategy to lock in the stability needed to support steady growth by pursuing both enterprise and fairness for all. Building on the foundations of monetary and fiscal reform, the reforms in microeconomic policy described in this volume provide the framework for improving Britain's overall productivity, expanding national wealth and protecting the environment. The government's approach to raising productivity across all sectors and income groups, supporting families, and tackling poverty is presented, together with a detailed account of the reform of the delivery of public services. This volume is a key resource for students of economics and politics, bringing together the work which will have a profound influence on the future of British economic policy making.

A comprehensive guide to the extensive microeconomic reforms implemented since 1997 to realize the UK Government's goals: a stronger more enterprising economy and a fairer society.

In the aftermath of the First World War British politics were subordinated to the goal of reconstructing a multilateral trade and payments system. This decision must be understood as the result of the peculiar structure of British capitalism wherein mercantile and financial activity rather than manufacturing industry provided the core of wealth of the dominant community. For a decade, Britain made a signal contribution to the restoration of multilateralism. With the world at a turning-point in 1928, British policy remained committed to reform through multilateral action, particularly once the Labour party resumed office. But the practical effect of policy was the opposite of that intended. Dogmatic opposition to all second-best alternatives helped drive all countries, Britain included, away from internationalism towards a narrow nationalism and economic protectionism. The account ends in 1932 when Britain embarked upon an active imperial policy while the rest of the world headed towards another war. Using a wide range of primary sources, the author presents an account which integrates the economic, political and diplomatic events of the period.

Based on the findings of a commission chaired by James Mirrlees, this volume presents a coherent picture of tax reform whose aim is to identify the characteristics of a good tax system for any open developed economy, assess the extent to which the UK tax system conforms to these ideals, and recommend how it might be reformed in that direction.

This book explores Edmund Burke's economic thought through his understanding of commerce in wider social, imperial, and ethical contexts.