The turn to markets
Thatcher, Reagan and Deng each move away from state direction, in different directions.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 13 years
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
From the late 1970s, privatisation, deregulation, inflation targeting and reduced union power become the dominant framework across much of the world, associated with Thatcher from 1979 and Reagan from 1981. Deng Xiaoping's reforms from 1978 open China to markets while keeping political control — a different model that proves far more economically successful. Inequality within countries rises substantially over the following decades.