Thatcherism, economic ideas and Papua New Guinea
By SEAN JACOBS The death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has caused a brief moment of pause and reflection throughout the world. Renowned globally for her convictions, Thatcher's economic policies discouraged inflation, introduced flexibility into the labour market, limited state ownership of enterprise and, in doing so, helped banish the cloud of economic malaise that hung over Britain in the 1970s. The philosophy behind this set of policy ideas – now known as Thatcherism – had clear proponents in intellectual heavyweights like Milton Friedman and, by overlapping with Reagaonomics, resulted in powerful repercussions in economic thinking beyond Britain throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the import of similar Thatcher-type ideas into the plans of fiscal policymakers and political leaders, although late and incomplete, is apparent in some of PNG's economic policies. It is worth reflecting briefly on the impact of these ideas in PNG. The