Chapter 5 The UK Economy 英国的经济 I Absolute and relative .doc

Chapter 5 The UK Economy 英国的经济 I. Absolute and relative decline of the British Economy 1. By the 1880s, dominant in the world--- 1/3 of the world’s manufactured goods; 1/2 of the world’s coal, iron and cotton; shipping greater than the sum of the rest of the world 2. By 1900, overtaken by the U.S and Germany 3. From 1945(the year when WWII ended) until present, thought of as relative decline because of steady economic growth and rapidly increasing living standards and still remaining one of the Group of Seven industrial economies(七大工业国:US, UK. Germany, France, Japan, Italy and Canada), but other countries developed more rapidly, so it slip from being the 2nd largest economy to being the 6th. 4. causes for the relative decline 1) gone into heavy debt to finance the war(selling many accumulated overseas assets, borrowing large amounts from the US and Canada) 2) British colonies which used to provide raw materials and big markets gained independence —the end of the era of empire *Supplementary note: In the 17th C., trade between Britain and India started, which was undertaken by a trading company called the East India Company. In 1813, Britain took over the company. At that time, the company controlled nearly all the official and administrative work in the whole sub-continent of India. Then the British Empire’s rule began. In 1947, India, “The Jewel in the Crown” of the British Empire, gained its independence. So the UK lost the largest resource of raw materials and a big market for its goods. 3) Britain was heavily burdened with the huge military expenditure during the process of decolonisation. [It was still forced to maintain a substantial and expensive military presence in many overseas locations until the process was completed (mostly by the end of the 1960s). And as one of the shapers of the post-war world required substantial military contributions (member of NATO and UN Security Council).] 4) lacked the investment in modern equipment and new products (Br