Margaret Thatcher: The Economics of Creative Destruction

Margaret Thatcher brought what can only be called a destructive excitement to politics. Arguments and institutions that plainly needed to be challenged and dismembered are likely in normal circumstances to be left alone, on the 'let sleeping dogs lie' principle. Under Mrs Thatcher they did get challenged and taken apart. Margaret Thatcher had a tendency to make things happen. This monograph is neither a history of her government nor the story of her life. It will try and capture the vivid character of Margaret Thatcher's political personality, because it is necessary to appreciate it, in order to understand much of the controversy surrounding her and because it is part of the explanation of her extraordinary capacity to transform debates that had been previously settled for many years. Many years after she was ejected from power, Margaret Thatcher is the benchmark that people use to assess contemporary politics, changes in policy, the progress of the economy, and the evolution of British society as a whole. Warwick Lightfoot is a professional economist with specialist interests in monetary policy, public expenditure, taxation and labour markets. Formerly the economics editor of The European, he was for many years a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal and has written for the Financial Times, The Times, Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, and the Guardian. His articles on economics and public policy have also been published in specialist journals that range from Financial World, International Economy, and Investors Chronicle to the Times Literary Supplement and the Journal of Insolvency Practitioners. Warwick worked in government as Special Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1989-92, initially appointed by Nigel Lawson and later reappointed by John Major and Norman Lamont. He was also Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Employment, the Rt Hon Norman Fowler MP. He is a Councillor for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.