英国简介

一、Introduction

1, Industrial Revolution In the 18th century the UK was the first country in the world to industrialise, and during the 19th century possessed a dominant role in the global economy. From the late-19th century the Second Industrial Revolution in the United States and Germany presented an increasing challenge to Britain's role as leader of the global economy. Despite victory, the costs of fighting both the First World War and Second World War further weakened the relative economic position of the UK, and by 1945 Britain had been superseded by the United States as the

world's dominant economic power. However, the UK still maintains a significant role in the world economy.

2, Post-war recovery Following the end of World War II, there was a long interval without a major recession (1945–1973) and a growth in prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s. According to the OECD, the annual rate of growth (percentage change)

between 1960 and 1973 averaged 2.9%, although this figure was far behind the rates of other European countries such as France, West Germany and Italy. However, following the severe shock of the 1973 oil crisis and the 1973–1974 stock market crash, the British economy had fallen into recession even when the recession ended in 1975, the economy was still blighted by double-digit inflation and unemployment was rising. Overall economic picture deteriorated with accelerating inflation and slumping pound sterling pushing the UK to accept an IMF rescue to the tune of £2.3bn loan (£12.5bn in today's currency).

3, Neoliberalism A new period of neo-liberal economics began in 1979 with the election of Margaret Thatcher, who won the general election on 3 May that year to return the Conservative Party to government after five years of Labour rule.During the 1980s most state-owned enterprises were privatised, taxes cut and markets

deregulated. GDP fell 5.9% at first but growth rose to 5% at its peak in 1988, one of the highest rates of any European nation.

4，recent situation The UK is one of the world's most globalised countries. London is the world's largest financial centre alongside New York and has the largest city GDP in Europe.

二，the 3 main sectors of the UK

1) primary industries, such as agriculture。fishing, and mining《oil, gas, nuclear energy, coal mining》

2) secondary industries, pharmaceuticals、chemicals aerospace

3）tertiary industries banking, insurance, tourism, advertising and the selling of goods （financial sector is important with London as one of the top 3 financial centers in the world; the world’s largest foreign exchange market; one of the busiest share-dealing centers in the world— the London Stock Exchange ）

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