In this fully revised and updated second edition, Sir Alec Cairncross provides a lucid overview and analysis of British economic policy and performance from 1945 to the present. The author takes a chronological approach, introducing the events of the period with an account of changing ideas on economic policy and performance. He concludes with a survey of major developments over the period.

Sir Alec Cairncross has alternated between academic life and government employment. He was Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Glasgow from 1951 to 1961, and Master of St Peter's College, Oxford from 1969 to 1978. In the 1960s he was Economic Adviser to Her Majesty's Government from 1961 to 1964 and thereafter Head of the Government Economic Service until 1969. He has held many further advisory posts and has published numerous books and articles on aspects of economic policy and performance, including Economics and Economic Policy (Blackwell, 1986).