The coincidental combination of the election of Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom and Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker’s interest-rate shock of October 1979 ended an era in which inflation had been seen as a solution to social problems. State action and monetary expansion as a means of buying off discontent were discredited, as was the West European welfare state.
1979年，十年中爆发了第二次石油价格休克之后，凯恩斯主义走到末路。当年10月，撒切尔夫人（Margaret Thatcher）当选英国首相，时任美联储主席的保罗·沃尔克（Paul Volcker）启动了大幅加息的紧缩政策，这两个互无关联的事件在时间上偶然重合，标志着一个时代的终结，人们不再把通货膨胀视作解决社会问题的一个药方。国家干预和货币扩张原先被当成安抚社会不满情绪的手段，但自那以后便同西欧的福利国家模式一道丧失了信誉。