The 1991 Budget in its Historical Context

<p>In this paper I compare the 1991 Budget with two earlier Budgets, namely those of 1971 and 1981. It may seem rather arbitrary to choose ten-year intervals; however, there are similarities in terms of the conditions in which the Budgets were presented. (There is also the coincidence that the Budgets of 1971 and 1991 were the first Budgets of new Chancellors of the Exchequer.) In each case the economic background was one of recession. In 1971 the response was an expansionary Budget; in 1981 (in a much deeper recession) it was severely deflationary; in 1991 it was neutral.</p>