The decline of Britain’s stockmarket should be seen in a broader historical context
The historical context of the City of London’s slump
IT IS TEMPTING to look at Britain’s history and conclude that the loss of its empire made the relative decline of its stockmarket inevitable. But Britain’s is hardly the only one to have ballooned and shrivelled in the centuries since the idea of raising capital by selling equity to the public gained popularity. The fortunes of the world’s big exchanges have fluctuated throughout history. In recent decades two important trends have driven those shifts: the rise of Asian equities and the growing significance of the technology sector. Britain’s market has been clobbered more forcefully than those of its peers, exacerbating its decline. But these are merely the latest twists in 200 years of stockmarket history.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Who’s up, who’s down?”
From the October 2nd 2021 edition
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