Editing Economy of the United Kingdom (section)

===1945 to 1979===
The WWII net losses in British national wealth amounted to 18.6% (£4.595 billion) of the prewar wealth (£24.68 billion), at 1938 prices.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The United Kingdom: 'Victory at all costs' |first1=Stephen |last1=Broadberry |first2=Peter |last2=Howlett|title=The economics of World War II: Six great powers in international comparison|editor-last=Harrison|editor-first=Michael|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1998| page=69|url=http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/13137/1/300%20.%20Mark_Harrison.pdf}}</ref> After the Second World War, [[Attlee ministry|a new Labour government]] fully nationalised the [[Bank of England]], civil aviation, telephone networks, railways, gas, electricity, and the coal, iron and steel industries, affecting 2.3 million workers.<ref name="Parker2009">{{cite book|first=David|last=Parker|title=The Official History of Privatisation: The Formative Years 1970–1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6m98AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA6|volume=1|year=2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-03140-5|page=7}}</ref> Post-war, the United Kingdom enjoyed a long period without a major recession; there was a rapid growth in prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s, with unemployment staying low and not exceeding 3.5% until the early 1970s.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Unemployment statistics from 1881 to the present day|first1=James|last1=Denman|first2=Paul|last2=McDonald|publisher=The Government Statistical Office|year=1996|journal=Labour Market Trends|volume=104|issue=15–18}}</ref> The annual rate of growth between 1960 and 1973 averaged 2.9%, although this figure was far behind some other European countries such as [[French Fourth Republic|France]], [[West Germany]] and [[Italy]].<ref name="DowDow2000">{{cite book|author1=J. Christopher R. Dow|first2=Christopher|last2=Dow|title=Major Recessions: Britain and the World, 1920–1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmaXSKBqMjcC|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-924123-1}}</ref>

Deindustrialisation meant the closure of operations in mining, heavy industry, and manufacturing, resulting in the loss of highly paid working-class jobs.<ref>{{Cite journal | last = High | first = Steven | title = "The wounds of class": a historiographical reflection on the study of deindustrialization, 1973–2013 | journal = [[History Compass]] | volume = 11 | issue = 11 | pages = 994–1007 | publisher = [[Wiley-Blackwell|Wiley]] | doi = 10.1111/hic3.12099 | date = November 2013 }}</ref> The UK's share of manufacturing output had risen from 9.5% in 1830 during the [[Industrial Revolution]] to 22.9% in the 1870s. It fell to 13.6% by 1913, 10.7% by 1938, and 4.9% by 1973.<ref name="Gat2008">{{cite book|first=Azar|last=Gat|title=War in Human Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6gSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA519|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-923663-3|page=519}}</ref> Overseas competition, lack of innovation, trade unionism, the welfare state, loss of the [[British Empire]], and cultural attitudes have all been put forward as explanations.<ref name="Laybourn1999">{{cite book|first=Keith|last=Laybourn| author-link = Keith Laybourn |title=Modern Britain Since 1906: A Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJpiVcZbaSEC&pg=PA230|year=1999|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-86064-237-1|page=230}}</ref> It reached crisis point in the 1970s against the backdrop of a worldwide energy crisis, high inflation, and a dramatic influx of low-cost manufactured goods from Asia.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy|title=Historical coal data: coal production, availability and consumption 1853 to 2015 |year=2016|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/historical-coal-data-coal-production-availability-and-consumption-1853-to-2011}}</ref>

During the [[1973 oil crisis]] (which saw oil prices quadruple),<ref name="cambridge">{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain|editor-first1=Roderick|editor-last1=Floud|editor-first2=Paul|editor-last2=Johnson|first=Stephen|last=Broadberry|year=2003|page=66|volume=3|isbn=978-0-521-52738-5|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugx3XIkE-mEC}}</ref> the [[1973–74 stock market crash]], and the [[secondary banking crisis of 1973–75]], the British economy fell into the [[1973–75 recession]] and the government of [[Edward Heath]] was ousted by the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] under [[Harold Wilson]], which had previously governed from 1964 to 1970. Wilson formed a [[minority government]] in March 1974 after the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|general election on 28 February]] ended in a [[hung parliament]]. Wilson secured a three-seat overall majority in a [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|second election]] in October that year. The UK recorded weaker growth than many other European nations in the 1970s; even after the recession, the economy was blighted by rising unemployment and double-digit inflation, which exceeded 20% more than once and was rarely below 10% after 1973.

In 1976, the UK was forced to apply for a loan of £2.3&nbsp;billion from the [[International Monetary Fund]]. [[Denis Healey]], then [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], was required to implement public spending cuts and other economic reforms in order to secure the loan, and for a while the British economy improved, with growth of 4.3% in early 1979.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Matthews |first1=Kent |last2=Minford |first2=Patrick |last3=Nickell |first3=Stephen |last4=Helpman |first4=Elhanan |date=1987 |title=Mrs Thatcher's Economic Policies 1979–1987 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1344621 |journal=Economic Policy |volume=2 |issue=5 |pages=59–101 |doi=10.2307/1344621 |jstor=1344621 |issn=0266-4658}}</ref> Following the discovery of large [[North Sea]] oil reserves, the UK became a net exporter of oil by the end of the 1970s, which contributed to a massive appreciation of the pound, making exports in general more expensive and imports cheaper. Oil prices doubled between 1979 and 1980, further reducing manufacturing profitability.<ref name="cambridge"/> After the [[Winter of Discontent]], when the UK was hit by numerous public sector strikes, the government of [[James Callaghan]] lost a vote of no confidence in March 1979. This triggered the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|general election on 3 May 1979]] which resulted in [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s Conservative Party forming a new government. In retrospect, the 1970s is considered to have been a "[[Economy of the United Kingdom|lost decade]]" for Britain economically (as well as culturally).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Porion |first=Stéphane |date=2016 |title=Reassessing a Turbulent Decade: the Historiography of 1970s Britain in Crisis |url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-etudes-anglaises-2016-3-page-301?lang=en |journal=Études anglaises |language=en |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=301–320 |doi=10.3917/etan.693.0301 |issn=0014-195X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Laurel Forster |title=British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade |author2=Sue Harper |year=2010 |isbn=1-4438-1734-1}}</ref>