Editing 1980s (section)

==Economics==
* The early 1980s was marked by a severe global [[Early 1980s recession|economic recession]] that affected much of the developed world.
* Inflation peaked in the US in April 1980 at 14.76% and subsequently fell to a low of 1.10% in December 1986 but then rebounded to 4.65% at the end of the decade.<ref>{{cite web|title=Inflation and CPI Consumer Price Index 1980–1989|url=http://inflationdata.com/articles/inflation-cpi-consumer-price-index-1980-1989/|website=InflationData.com|access-date=3 January 2015}}</ref>
* Finland's economy grew by almost the fastest pace in the world, which eventually culminated in the [[Early 1990s depression in Finland|recession of the 1990s Finnish economy]]. In Finland, the 1980s were called the "Nousukausi", or "economic upswing".
* In the late 1980s, Japan experienced an [[Japanese asset price bubble|economic bubble]], which would culminate in a stock market crash in 1991 that would begin a [[Lost Decades|period of economic stagnation]].
* Developing countries reliant on loans from the [[International Monetary Fund]] would experience debt crises throughout the 1980s.
* [[Laissez-faire economics|Laissez faire]] and [[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] economics have a resurgence in the developed world, led by the UK and US which emphasised reduced government intervention, lower taxes and deregulation of the stock markets, measures that became associated with an economic revival in the mid- to late-1980s.
* Brazil and Mexico suffers from a [[Latin American debt crisis|debt crisis in Latin America]] starting in 1982 under President [[João Figueiredo]] and [[Miguel de la Madrid]]. Economic problems worsened between 1979 and 1985 by firing and resignation of most officials of the Brazilian and Mexican government after the {{Lang|pt|[[Diretas Já]]|italic=no}} movement in 1984, and a failed response of emergency aid in the [[1985 Mexico City earthquake|Mexico City earthquake]] just after the 175th anniversary of independence holiday in 1985. [[Tancredo Neves]] (later succeeded by [[José Sarney]] three months later) and [[Carlos Salinas de Gortari]] won a [[1985 Brazilian presidential election|direct presidential election]] in 1985 marked the end of a [[Brazilian military dictatorship|21-year military dictatorship]], and a [[1988 Mexican general election|controversial presidential election]] in 1988 amid charges of voter fraud, bribery, corruption and other abuses of power.
* Enactment of the [[Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement]] in 1989 to further establish a strong economic bond between the two prosperous neighbor countries of North America.
* In the Soviet Union, the [[Eleventh Five-Year Plan (Soviet Union)|eleventh Five-Year Plan]] was initiated in 1981 during a [[Era of Stagnation|period of economic stagnation]] that began in the late 1970s. The Plan was a near failure, as most of the targets were not met. With the ascent of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]], the twelfth Five-Year Plan sought to [[Uskoreniye|accelerate]] and [[Perestroika|restructure]] the Soviet economy through reforms to decentralize production and distribution systems.
* Under the leadership of [[Deng Xiaoping]], China embarked on [[Chinese economic reform|extensive reforms]] in the 1980s, opening the country's economy to the West and allowing capitalist enterprises to operate in a [[Socialism with Chinese characteristics|market socialist system]]. The corruption of [[Communist Party of China|Communist Party]] leadership was met by dissent from students and workers in the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]] which were suppressed by the [[People's Liberation Army]].
* The [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity movement]] began in Poland in 1980, involving workers demanding political liberalization and democracy in Poland. Attempts by the Communist government to prevent the rise of the Solidarity movement failed and negotiations between the movement and the government took place. Solidarity would be instrumental in encouraging people in other communist states to demand political reform.
* The financial world and the stock market were glamorized in a way they had not been since the 1920s, and figures like [[Donald Trump]] and [[Michael Milken]] were widely seen as symbols of the decade. Widespread fear of Japanese economic strength would grip the United States in the 1980s.
* The "Black Monday" [[Black Monday (1987)|stock market crash]] on 19 October 1987, decreased the value of the [[Dow Jones Industrial Average]] by more than 22%, causing widespread secondary drops in world markets.
* During the 1980s, for the first time in world history, transpacific trade (with [[East Asia]], such as China, and Latin America, primarily with Mexico) equaled that of transatlantic trade (with [[Western Europe]] or with neighboring Canada),<ref>"The Next Hundred Years", George Friedman, 2009, pg 4</ref> solidifying American economic power.<ref>"The Next Hundred Years", George Friedman, 2009, pg 45</ref>
* [[Savings and loan crisis|The Savings and Loan crisis]] and [[Keating Five|Keating five]] scandal.
* The phrase [[Big Bang (financial markets)|Big Bang]], used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets, was coined to describe measures, including abolition of fixed commission charges and of the distinction between stockjobbers and stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange and change from open-outcry to electronic, screen-based trading, effected by Margaret Thatcher in 1986.