1. The Economic Policies of Lord Liverpool
- Author:
- Martin Hutchinson and Kevin Dowd
- Publication Date:
- 10-2021
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (“Liverpool,” 1770–1828) was UK prime minister over the period 1812–1827. His achievements were remarkable. He designed the financial attrition strategy that defeated Napoleon; led the United Kingdom through the turbulence of the takeoff stage of the industrial revolution; inherited a daunting fiscal situation that included a debt/GDP ratio of well over 200 percent, and implanted the austerity measures needed to put this ratio onto the path that led to later Victorian levels; reformed the currency; pushed through the return to the gold standard; promoted both the Corn Laws and free trade; successfully managed the 1825 financial crisis, the worst in over a century; and pushed through subsequent reforms that put the UK banking system onto a stable trajectory that lasted into the late 20th century.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, Fiscal Policy, and Trade
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus