Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through

The UK is, at the same time, both one of the world's most successful economies and one of Europe's laggards. In terms of GDP per head it is a world leader but productivity levels (even before the last decade) were abysmally low compared to its advanced economy peers. The country contains some of the Europe's richest areas but also some which are more akin to the poorer areas of Southern Europe than the more affluent parts of Germany or France.

It's really not much of an exaggeration to describe the UK, in economic terms, as 'Portugal but with Singapore in the bottom corner'. Opening with the Brexit vote of 2016, I Wouldn't Start from Here brilliantly traces the preceding 200 years of British economic history to explain how we reached this point. In looking at how the British economy developed over the last two centuries, Duncan Weldon explores the choices taken (and not taken) by politicians and businesspeople over the years, and reveals how those choices have shaped the outcomes and futures faced by u.