The Political Economy Review 2017

entrepreneurship. We do this by reducing corporation tax; it is capital investment which is essential in deciding the future success of the UK after Brexit. Private enterprise will naturally favour a trading bloc over an individual nation. But by reducing taxation to well below EU levels we can ensure that the UK rivals in-EU countries, and remains an attractive place to both locate and start-up businesses. It is in this vein that we must take inspiration from the successes of Thatcher. Supply side economic policies fostered the right economic conditions for the fruition of the NICE decade - the maintenance of many of Thatcher’s Policies under Major and Blair, in what was known as the “Post-Thatcherite Consensus” allowed for a long and undisturbed period of economic prosperity, growth and expansion. I was motivated to write an article on this topic because Corbyn poses a real threat which people need to know about. At 10PM on the 8th June, there was a general state of surprise. I don’t think anybody was expecting, or forecasting Labour to do so well - to garner 40% of the vote. We should really be worried for the future of our economy. For now, we are safe, but with Brexit looming ahead of us, wrong economic decisions could forever harm the UK’s economic influence and standing. Corbyn’s promises are undeliverable. They fundamentally don’t add up, yet their popularity threatens the very “Post-Thatcherite” legacy which delivered growth fueled by the financial sector for the good part of two decades. When it comes to major political and economic decisions, it is especially important we get it right. That’s why now more than ever we need the basic level of interest, education, and informed debate that has been notably absent in vast swathes of the electorate. Imagine a world where there is no Amazon, no Apple and no Uber. Where all the international companies whose goods and services we consume on the daily would simply vanish. Multinational corporations, otherwise known as multinationals, are ones which make more than 30% of their revenue outside of their country of origin. For decades, they have been an integral part of life in developed economies. Understandably, multinational corporations have a massive influence on the global economy. Following events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, multinationals began their expansion. A notable occasion was the opening of the first McDonald’s in Moscow in 1990: it was such a socially significant event that the first day witnessed the sale of 30,000 burgers. These corporations were vastly successful in these new environments, bringing with them their unparalleled efficiency in the form of economies of scale. However, the international stage has changed substantially since then, and many multinationals have not kept up. The Economist cites that their profits have fallen by 25% in the last five years. The fact is, multinational corporations are in trouble, and their exact future is uncertain. The world has changed a lot since the 90’s, and so has its citizens. While multinationals were beginning their rapid global expansions, Nirvana was still touring, and the iPod was still a decade away. Most importantly, the internet as we know it was still not present, and information was not as readily available as it is now. The significance of the internet, and especially the development of social media, is that it has made people much more aware of the companies that stand behind the goods and services that they consume. Consequently, multinationals are now more susceptible to scandals that can damage their brands. Such scandals have __________________________________________________________________________________________ The Future of Multinational Corporations J AKUB P APAJ

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