Economic Impact of Margaret Thatcher

Readers Question: I’m doing my A level coursework on the economic policies of the Margaret Thatcher governments and what happened from them. The only problem is, I don’t really know where to look for information about it and statistics. Please could you tell me what the results were of each policy, like the rise in VAT, poll tax, privatisation etc.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to find statistics. Also the economics of the Thatcher era is a vast topic. The above question is quite open ended, in this case it might be worth planning the coursework into different sections with clear titles.  I think the most interesting aspects are the 2 reasons of 1981 and 1991, which can be both attributed to policies of the Thatcher government.

I have written on these recessions before:

• The Economy under Mrs Thatcher 1979-84 
• The Lawson boom of the 1980s 
• The recession of 1991 
• Download growth comparisons of UK and other European countries during Thatcher Year’s

If I might suggest, I think there would be enough to just do coursework on just the growth and unemployment record of the UK under Mrs Thatcher. I think it will be possible to find statistics for growth and unemployment during the 1980s.

You might try the office of National statistics.

• The economics of the poll tax would be more difficult, it was mainly a political issue.
• The economics of privatisation is also interesting, but, I would suspect more difficult to find analysis and data on.
• If you want to ask a more specific question, I might be able to offer a few specific pointers, but, it will be general points rather than finding statistics.