II.The Recent History of the UK Economy Absolute decline of the UK economy:Britain used to be second only to the United States in the international economy and dropped to the sixth,which indicates some sort of absolute decline Relative decline of the UK economy:from 1945 until the present, Britain is usually thought of as one of relative decline.In fact,it has been a period of steady economic growth and rapidly increasing living standards.It remains one of the Group of Seven large industrial economies.It became more wealthier and more productive than it was in 1945,but other countries developed more rapidly. II. The Recent History of the UK Economy • Absolute decline of the UK economy: Britain used to be second only to the United States in the international economy and dropped to the sixth, which indicates some sort of absolute decline. • Relative decline of the UK economy: from 1945 until the present, Britain is usually thought of as one of relative decline. In fact, it has been a period of steady economic growth and rapidly increasing living standards. It remains one of the Group of Seven large industrial economies. It became more wealthier and more productive than it was in 1945, but other countries developed more rapidly