I've been enjoying watching Andrew Marr's BBC programme- A History of Modern Britain - from rationing to punk rock - from Enoch Powell to Arthur Scargill - modern Britain had everything (and at times, surprisingly violent into the bargain). You also realise how much economics influenced, life, living standards, politics and society. Looking back over the turbulent past few decades also puts the current economic crisis into perspective.

This week I will be writing a brief and potted Economic history of Modern Britain.

• Economics of the 1920s - a legacy of war debt, deflation and life under the gold standard
  
• Economics of the Great Depression 1930s - the economics of mass unemployment.

This week:

• Economics of the 1940s and 1950s - Austerity, rationing, war debt, but full employment, new welfare state and rising living standards.
• 1960s - The 'You've never had it so good era' starts to unwind.
• 1970s - The Era of Discontent. Strikes, 3 day weeks, inflation, boom and bust. The 70s had everything except stability
• 1980s - The Thatcher era gave us two deep recessions, an experiment with monetarism mass unemployment, broke the power of trades and one of the most memorable booms of post war Britain.
• 1990s - Recession and then the great stability
• The economics of the 2000s