UK is a finance economy and EU/world ex-US has had terrible stock market performance since then.
Germany survived (not thrived) on manufacturing (also better positioned vis-a-vis Eastern Europe), France on luxuries and maybe a bit on tourism, Nordics on oil, Benelux on ??? (not sure, but they’re smart cookies – probably mini-Germanies).
UK ceded manufacturing to others decades ago. IIRC, North Sea oil is fading. Finance has been a ~bust. The former colonies/dominions/etc. have probably spun harder away from the UK of late, for fairly natural reasons (i.e. UK doesn’t have much of a special relationship anymore with Canada, Oz, Hong Kong, etc.)
And maybe some brain drain to the US? Not sure about that.
UK used to punch above its weight culturally (Beatles/music, books, film, etc), but has probably faded relatively on those, AND the forefront of that stuff has shifted to digital/internet, where the UK is weak.
UK’s most famous entrepreneur is maybe Richard Branson? An old guy who does airlines and a bit of music and whatnot – hardly growth areas of the 2020s. And Dyson, but again, vacuum cleaners are a bit limited. Where is the UK tech standout?
(And *why* can’t such bright minds as surely exist in the UK come up with a few tech winners? What’s the national handicap there? I’m not sure…)
That is from Phil S. As a macroeconomist, Fischer Black remains underrated.
That is from Phil S. As a macroeconomist, Fischer Black remains underrated.