This overlaps another post where we spoke about britain moving from an industrial nation to a financial nation, because people are now ploughing hard cash into property and into savings as all us good citizens are encouraged to do
then less buying of manufactured goods take place, although i personally think the real reason for frugalness is that people are now scared of spending too much, unless you have one of those plastic cards from those very nice people at Braclycard.
In victorian days the Factory owner would even pay in vouchers forcing his employees to spend their pay back into his own shops in the village thus the status quo was maintained, the spanner in the works was the introduction of choice.
Still the old victorian way is still with us today, just on a bigger global scale with the west controlling the manufacture and price of a wide range of commodities so all that's really changed is the size of the workforce.
Or am i simplifying it too much.