As the late economist and European central banker Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa once put it, Thatcher “shifted the line dividing markets from government, enlarging the territory of the former at the expense of the latter.” Padoa-Schioppa regarded this as a factor contributing to the US and UK authorities’ reluctance to step in at the right time before the 2007-2008 crisis.
撒切尔还特别提到了固定汇率的危险，她显然不能被指为所谓的“有效市场假说”的主要缔造者之一。但她坚定地相信私人市场的扩张，从本能上怀疑政府干预。已故经济学家、欧洲央行行长夏欧帕（Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa）曾说，撒切尔“移走了分割市场和政府的界线，扩大了前者的地盘，缩小了后者的地盘。”夏欧帕认为这是美国和英国当局不愿在2007—2008年危机之前的正确时点出手干预的因素之一。