US Economic History-Commanding Heights - Essay Example

Keynes ideas were that the economy should be controlled by the government. Later years saw the departure from Keynes ideas to the adoption of economies that did not support government regulations. Many reforms were made and globalization set in. This was around the year 1991 after the Soviet Union collapsed. The authors say that free markets prevail in comparison to the centrally planned markets. There are worries however that, globalization may be only for a short while. This will happen if measures are not taken to end inequality and if the third world countries are not given opportunities to better themselves.

The UK had a lot of resources and power and thus its capital city London was the center of globalization. This was in the first period of globalization. This period occurred before the First World War (Yergin et al pg 15). The First World War however affected Britain badly leading to a high level of unemployment. As much as the UK triumphed in the Second World War, the empire had to break. The then ruler, Winston Churchill, did not like the idea of government involvement and he thus discouraged it.

In the year 1945, Clement Attlee who headed the Labor Party, was elected and he encouraged government regulations so as to avoid potential economic crisis. The government of UK nationalized almost all its major industries. In addition to this, the government controlled the earnings of the employees. These wages of the employees were regulated by the government or subjected to the union rules (Kay, pg 23). This idea of government interference became a common factor in the UK in such a way that subsequent governments adopted it.

The elected government officials did nothing to change this and it became part of the UK. In the 1970s, the UK saw immense strikes of the unions including other problems such as the oil shock that was experienced in the year 1973 (Yergin et al pg 16). These problems almost crumbled Britain. That