Chapter III. The British Economy in the Medium Term

The short-term outlook on ‘unchanged policies’ presented in chapter I of slow output growth, rising unemployment and little further reduction in inflation is not encouraging. But in order to form a critical view of policies formulated with medium-term objectives in view, it is necessary to look beyond the short term to see whether the economic ills of the recent past and immediate future could prove to be the foundations of lasting prosperity in, let us say, the mid-1980s. In this chapter we assess the economic strategy now being followed, and how the economy is likely to respond.