The State in Business: 1945 to the Mid-1980s (Modern Economy and Society)

By its large programme of nationalisation, the 1945 Labour government inaugurated a new phase in the history of state enterprise, which has been ended by the privatisations of the 1980s. This book looks at this forty-year phase as a whole, considering the motives for nationalisation and summarising the legislation and policies. It discusses the objectives set for publicly-owned businesses, the resources available to them, and their achievements and short-comings, and in doing so casts doubt on some of the cherished assumptions and slogans of both the left and the right in politics. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-16 The Sequence of Nationalisation....Pages 17-41 Objectives....Pages 42-58 Means....Pages 59-89 Performance....Pages 90-163 Critique....Pages 164-185 Conclusions....Pages 186-208 Back Matter....Pages 209-240 An historical account of Britain's nationalized undertakings down to the time when more and more of them began to be privatized, comparing expectations and results, and suggesting some conclusions that might be drawn from experience. William Ashworth. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 209-233) And Index.