Is monetarism dead? Have budgets been too tight? Has North Sea oil destroyed our manufacturing base? Did Common Market entry do Britain any good? Why is unemployment so high? Has private industry performed better than public? Is the welfare state working? These and other questions are the subject of this book. It is modelled on the earlier assessments of the British economy by the Brookings Institution, and provides authoritative assessments of the British economy in its various aspects over the last 15 years. The authors are leading experts in their field. Each chapter contains a clear historical account of the main developments, an analysis of the casual factors at work, and an evaluation of the quality of the outcome.