蒙大英语国家-英国概况教案03 The British Economy
Lecture ThreeThe British EconomyThe focus of teaching: the evolution of British economy Teaching aim: let the students know the general knowledge of British economy and its major indutriesTeaching style: instruction and group discussionTeaching procedure:1. warming-up exercises2. General introduction to British economy by PowerPoint;3. Discussion on the assignment;4. Assignment on information- gathering I. The Evolution of the British Economy since the War Warming-up exercises: discuss the following two questions:1. Do you know any major industry in Britain? 2. why do you think British economy lagged behind gradually compared with other developed countries?The Evolution of the British Economy since the Second World War falls into the following three periods: 1. Steady Development in the 50s and the 60s The Second World War devastated the Europe. The British economy suffered a great deal from the war, but it suffered less direct war damage than other European countries and Japan. With the help from the United States the British economy quickly recovered. The British economy in this period is characterized by slow but steady growth, low employment and great material prosperity with rising standard of consumption. The economy policy it pursued was based on the theory of John M. Keynes. He suggested that the government should use fiscal and monetary policy to fine-tune aggregate demand to achieve full employment, while using prices and incomes policies to suppress inflation at source. This policy characterized by high consumption and low investment also brought about problems. One of them was high labour cost, which led to Britains low competitiveness in international market. Although the British economy developed steadily in the 50s and 60s, it still lagged behind other industrialized countries. 2. Economic recession in the 70s Towards the end of 1960s the rate of inflation began to rise. This further eroded business confidence and competitiveness. The end of 1973 witnessed the first oil shock. As a result the cost of oil imports skyrocketed. The inflation rate rose to 9.1% in 1973 and to 16.0% in 1974. The second oil shock in the 1977 caused inflation to rise still further. It reached a rate of 22% in 1980. In the 1970s among the developed countries Britain maintained the lowest growth rate and the highest inflation rate. In some years of the period Britain even had a minus growth and the trade deficits were the highest among Western countries. 2. Economic recovery in the 80s In March 1979 the Conservative Party under the leadership of Mrs Thatcher won the election. The new government adopted an economic program known as Medium-term Financial Strategy. The new economic policy was based on the theory of the new classical school of thought. It turned “Keynesianism” on its head. Privatization, deregulation and market liberalization replaced prices and incomes control and state interventionism. The immediate effect of this approach was a deep recession in 1980-81, with GPD falling by a total of 2.6% in two years. However, by 1982, the downswing in the world commodity prices together with the governments anti-inflationary polices led to the dramatic falls in the rate of inflation to 8.6% in 1982 and 5% in 1983. Features of the recovery:l An outstanding feature of the economic recovery in the 1980s was its length. By 1988 the recovery had lasted seven years.l Another feature was the improved financial position of the government, with stronger current account of the balance of payment. l Another important factor in the recovery was the surge in labour productivity. The British economy in the 1980s developed quite significantly. The Thatcher program was successful to some extent. Mrs. Thatcher tried to cure the “British disease” by applying monetarism and encouraging the market-directed economy but she failed. By 1989 inflation caused by over-heated economy had risen to 8.3%. in April, 1990 it reached 9.4%. The balance of payments worsened again. In 1989, the visible trade deficit was 23.1 billion. The new economic problems finally brought down the Conservative government headed by Mrs. Thatcher.II. Resources and Industries 1. coal, oil and natural gas Compared with many other countries, Britain has considerable reserves of coal. Important coal areas can be found in Central Lowlands of Scotland, North-East England, Central England and South Wales around such big cities as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham, and Swansea. Almost all the industrial areas in Britain except London and Belfast are based on coalfields. Today British coal mining is called a “sick” industry. The output of coal reached its peak just before the First World War when 286 million tons were mined, and since then the number of miners, collieries and the total output have fallen. The