To what extent has the British economy declined compared to its competitors and what are the underlying reasons for this decline? Nicholas Crafts, one of the world's foremost economic historians, tackles these questions in a major new account of Britain's long-run economic performance. He argues...

"The book traces Britain's path from the first Industrial Revolution and global economic primacy through its subsequent long-term decline, the strengths and weaknesses of the Thatcherite response, and the improvement in relative economic performance that was sustained to the eve of the financial...

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Part I. Foundations of Imperialism in Sudan -- Chapter 2. British Business and Sudan During the Mahdiya -- Chapter 3. The Beginnings of Imperial Development, 1899-1919 -- Part II Business and Imperialism in Sudan -- Chapter 4. The Sudan Plantations Syndicate, 1904-1919...

Following the Brexit vote, this book offers a timely historical assessment of the different ways that Britain's economic future has been imagined and how British ideas have influenced global debates about market relationships over the past two centuries. The 2016 EU referendum hinged to a...