Economic Stats 1979-90

Question 1

What was Thatchers initial economic policy

Answer 1

Monetarism

Question 2

What was monetarisms key points

Answer 2

Designed to combat issue of inflation that plagued previous governments
Government had to reduce public spending and amount of money in circulation
Government maintained high interest rates to reduce excessive borrowing

Question 3

How did inflation change between 1980 and 1983

Answer 3

1980- 22%

1983- 4%

Question 4

How did unemployment change between 1980 and 83

Answer 4

Rose by over 1 million

Over 3 million unemployed by 1983

Question 5

How did economists respond to Thatchers policies

Answer 5

364 leading economists claimed “there was no economic theory” behind monetarism and that “present policies” would deepen the recession

Question 6

Was there opposition to monetarism and how was it dealt with

Answer 6

Francis Pym (defence minister) opposed monetarism in the cabinet

1980- “lady’s not for turning” speech helped to ensure dominance of drys

Question 7

When was the Housing Act

Answer 7

1980

Question 8

What did the Housing Act do

Answer 8

Allowed council house tenants to buy their homes- at a discount of up to 50%

Allowed tenants to lock in price with £100 deposit

100% mortgages from local authorities

Question 9

How successful was the housing act

Answer 9

By 1985 over 800,000 tenants had brought their home

1981-1990- 15% increase in home ownership

Labour dropped opposition by 1987GE

Question 10

How successful was monetarism

Answer 10

Did control inflation (22-4% between 1980-1983) but allowed unemployment to rise (increase by 1m between 1980-83, reached peak of over 3 million)

Question 11

What was Thatchers second economic policy called

Answer 11

Supply side economics

Question 12

Key points of supply side economics

Answer 12

Aimed to promote “popular capitalism” by making ordinary people more likely to own shares

Question 13

How did the number of British shareholders change between 1979-1990

Answer 13

Increased by 6 million

Question 14

How many businesses were privatised under Thatcher and give examples

Answer 14

50 privatised

British Gas 1986
British airways 1987
British Steel 1988

Question 15

How much did the government earn from privatisation between 1985-1989

Answer 15

£9.6 billion

Question 16

How did the number of industrial workers change between 1980-1990

Answer 16

Decrease from 7 million in 1980 to 4 million in 1990

Question 17

How did real wages change between 1979-1994

Answer 17

Increased 26%

Question 18

What was the Big Bang

Answer 18

The term used to describe the deregulation of the British financial sector in 1986

Question 19

How did taxation change under Thatcher

Answer 19

Although she boasted of major tax cuts, the average person had largely similar tax burdens

Average tax on gross income only fell from 45% to 43% between 1979-1990

Cuts in income tax made up by increase in indirect taxation

Question 20

How did the average tax % change between 1979-1990

Answer 20

Went from 45% to 43%

Question 21

How did the basic and top tax rate change under thatcher

Answer 21

Basic rate- 33% to 25%

Top rate- 83% to 40%

Question 22

What was the Zeitgeist of economics at the time and what highlighted this

Answer 22

Greed and personal growth

Highlighted by 1987 film “Wall Street”- claimed “greed is good”

Question 23

When was the poll tax introduced

Answer 23

1989-1990

Question 24

What was the poll tax

Answer 24

An attempted move by Thatcher to introduce a standard charge on each person in the UK

Question 25

How many people avoided or refused to pay the poll tax

Answer 25

4 million

Question 26

When was a protest against the poll tax and how many joined

Answer 26

March 1990

200,000 protestors

Question 27

How many were discontent with the poll tax

Answer 27

90%

Question 28

How many households would be worse off due to poll tax

Answer 28

7 in 10