On October 20th, 2022 — after just 44 days in office — British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned. 

Her brief leadership, the shortest in U.K. history, will be remembered for being mired by fiscal calamity, political infighting and market meltdown. But also, her dogged efforts to revive a controversial economic idea. 

That theory? Trickle-down economics, a term most closely associated with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. 

Stock markets were roiled, and the British pound plunged against the dollar after the new U.K. government unveiled a "mini-budget" of tax cuts seen to disproportionately benefit the wealthy, even as the country faces a worsening cost-of-living crisis. 

The move prompted critique from financial institutions and political ire from across the Atlantic. Even the Bank of England was forced to intervene. 

So just why did the U.K. try to revive trickle-down economics? And how did it cause the country's economic strategy to implode?

Watch the video above to find out why the U.K. attempted to revive trickle-down economics and how it caused the country's fiscal strategy to implode. 

Disclaimer: CNBC conducted the interviews in this feature prior to Liz Truss' resignation on October 20.