The Chancellor has been celebrating the recent estimates showing that the economy has grown by 0.8 per cent in the third quarter of this year. However, these forecasts do not tell us anything about what is most important: well-being. National well-being is the only object of economic growth, but GDP data says nothing about it. … Continue reading The folly of George Osborne
Author: Robert Skidelsky
Economist and member of the House of Lords
Misconceiving British Austerity
Was the British government’s decision to embrace austerity in the wake of the global financial crisis the right policy, after all? Yes, claims the economist Kenneth Rogoff in a much-discussed recent commentary. Rogoff argues that while, in hindsight, the government should have borrowed more, at the time there was a real danger that Britain would … Continue reading Misconceiving British Austerity
How Much Is Enough? – a speech at the Bruno Kreisky Forum, October 2013
When we experience a great shock - when our world, the world - goes off an unpleasant, unforeseen tangent - it is natural to try to interrogate our situation. Why did it happen? What were we doing wrong? Perhaps we were on the wrong track? We also search for new wisdom from half-forgotten fragments of … Continue reading How Much Is Enough? – a speech at the Bruno Kreisky Forum, October 2013
Osborne may gloat about recovery, but his “hard slog” will leave Britain worse off
George Osborne is bound to crow at the Conservative party conference about the superior performance of the British economy under his stewardship. After three years of “hard slog”, there is at last some good news to report. In the second quarter of this year, the economy grew by 0.7 per cent after “flatlining” for the … Continue reading Osborne may gloat about recovery, but his “hard slog” will leave Britain worse off
Letter to the editor
It’s very hard to get a sensible discussion on fiscal policy going right now. Perhaps Keynesian economics was always too paradoxical to impress the plain men and women who write Times leaders on the subject. In their world view, Labour’s modest spending pledges — notably on childcare — would, if implemented, “draw money from business”. … Continue reading Letter to the editor
The Russian Janus
Russia presents two opposing faces to the world: one menacing, the other benign. Both have now combined, somewhat unexpectedly, to break the momentum carrying the United States, and possibly other Western powers, toward a disastrous military intervention in Syria. Russia’s domestic situation remains deplorable. With the collapse of the planned economy in 1991, Russia proved … Continue reading The Russian Janus
Why does our service economy offer such bad service?
By Robert Skidelsky and Nan Craig Britain is a service economy with a lot of lousy services. The paradox is easily explainable. Service and cost-cutting are contradictions in terms. Good services are intrinsically expensive because they require a high ratio of labour to product; hence the old view that services could not be automated. Yet … Continue reading Why does our service economy offer such bad service?
John Kerry’s Tricky Bid
In Why You Lose at Bridge (the funniest book about bridge ever written), my uncle, S. J. Simon, advised players to aim “not for the best possible result, but the best result possible” with the partner you have. This advice applies to the long-stalled Israel-Palestine peace process, newly revived by US Secretary of State John … Continue reading John Kerry’s Tricky Bid
Labour should hammer home one simple message on the economy
The Labour party faces a political dilemma. Barely a day goes past without the more excitable parts of the British press trumpeting some new signal of Britain's economic success. Every other headline screams that Britain is "booming" or that its factories are "roaring to life". Every little jump in the flimsiest of economic indicators, every … Continue reading Labour should hammer home one simple message on the economy
Nonsense Economics
In the UK, the Labour Party's Shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, has been calling on his party to 'shout louder' about the failings of the governing coalition. His main concern was with the National Health Service, but Labour has an even better story to tell on the economy. The Prime Minister and Chancellor are keen … Continue reading Nonsense Economics
Robert Skidelsky 