Margaret Thatcher's Economic Record

Margaret Thatcher died today.  The opinions on her legacy are at best mixed. This is a nice discussion of her economic record.


Dylan Matthews has an excellent dissection of her economic legacy.  The summary is that she brought inflation down but caused unemployment to spike.





She did scale back government:




However, GDP growth rate under Thatcher wasn't much greater than under her predecessors

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As a result, the per capita income in the UK has grown steadily and there is no appreciable change due to Thatcher.



What you do see though is a massive spike in Household Expenditure - i.e. private spending:

So, what exactly happened?

David Ignatius has a fascinating article on the subject.  Essentially, by breaking the might of the unions and deregulating the financial sector, Thatcher helped create the modern Western economy.  In Britain, its unclear whether it helped or hurt the overall economy but it likely did redistribute wealth creating a broader middle class.

While there is debate about the normative impact of her policies, it is undeniable that she revolutionized the UK and possibly the world.