The Battle of ideas for the World Economy : Features and Impact on Thatcherism in the UK

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 3,0, University of Kassel, language: English, abstract: This paper is to illustrate the battle for the world economy between the intellectual rivals John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek and their influence on the economic policies of Margaret Thatcher. Therefore, I am first going to shed some light on the theories of the two famous economists and their achievements. In a second part, the paper is going to elaborate on the question why Thatcher decided to enforce new economic policies in Britain in spite of contrary opinions of her opponents in the cabinet.