Book contents
- Fragmented Policy Change
- Cambridge Studies in Historical Sociology
- Fragmented Policy Change
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- 1The Multidimensional Politics of Economic Policy
- Part IFeeding the Beast
- Part IIThe Politics of Shrinking Policy Space
- 5Trapped between Monetary Growth and Crowding Out
- 6Mid-1970s Economic Policy as Cumulative Polyvalent Performances
- 7Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Trapped between Monetary Growth and Crowding Out
The 1970s Economic Policy Trilemma
from Part II - The Politics of Shrinking Policy Space
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2026
Book contents
- Fragmented Policy Change
- Cambridge Studies in Historical Sociology
- Fragmented Policy Change
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- 1The Multidimensional Politics of Economic Policy
- Part IFeeding the Beast
- Part IIThe Politics of Shrinking Policy Space
- 5Trapped between Monetary Growth and Crowding Out
- 6Mid-1970s Economic Policy as Cumulative Polyvalent Performances
- 7Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapters 5 and 6 offer novel explanations of the politics of shrinking policy space in the 1970s by tracing how (i) structural changes in the economic and institutional environments, (ii) strategic interactions between policymakers, civil servants, trade unions, financial investors, and international organizations, among others, and (iii) specific policy and cognitive devices combined to constrain government elites’ perceived menu of available policy options. Chapter 5 studies the strategic interactions between policymakers intending to legitimize an active fiscal policy and uncooperative financial markets. It argues that the institutional and cognitive underpinnings of the relational setting of sovereign debt shaped government elites’ (and financial investors’) understandings of economic policy options, and proposes the notion of an economic policy trilemma to explain and theorize the way in which financial confidence became a binding constraint to government policy.
Keywords
Information
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- Chapter
- Information
- Fragmented Policy ChangeFiscal and Bureaucratic Politics in 1960s–1980s United Kingdom, pp. 139 - 177Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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