A rising tide of old ideas: How world economics has changed in 4 decades

Higher tax rates, central banks pumping out cash, protection for home industry, suppressing interest rates, high social welfare pay-outs - all hark back to pre-Thatcher-Reagan phase - notes T N Ninan

On your columnist’s first visit to the United States, in 1982, two things were obvious. While capitalist in ideology, it had a surprisingly equal society — the result of post-War policies on social security, taxation, labour and industrial growth. Those excluded were essentially African-Americans. For the rest, the basics (housing, food, clothes, medical care) were relatively cheap and affordable. The cost of a house equalled four-and-a-half years’ salary for a median-income family, compared to 6.25 years today. The ratio of chief executive office (CEO) pay to that of the average worker was 30:1, not today’s 300:1. And health care costs