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Will a new year take us back to the 1970s?

Strikes and inflation are giving the 2020s a retro feel – but what does next year have in store?
November 27, 2023
  • The echoes of the 1970s are hard to ignore 
  • Do we risk a second wave of inflation?

It may be almost 2024, but is the economy heading back to the 1970s? Economists have, admittedly, been asking this ever since inflation started rising over two years ago –  but there are reasons to think the comparison could endure even though price growth is on the decline for now. 

The surface-level parallels with the 1970s remain undeniable: we have seen an energy price shock (and the threat of more to come), soaring inflation and economic stagnation all set against a noisy background of industrial action and geopolitical unrest. 

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