Keynote Speech at FT Conference in Amsterdam In its latest briefing note the IMF warned that world growth would slow in the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011. Meanwhile the cost of Greek government debt has shot up again, despite the ECB rescue-package, and the IMF will soon inject another 2.5bn … Continue reading Europe’s Debt Crisis and Implications for Policy
Author: Robert Skidelsky
Economist and member of the House of Lords
For a New World, New Economics
The 2008 financial crash and the shift of power from west to east raise questions about the future of capitalism. Robert Skidelsky appraises the latest thinking, from Ha-Joon Chang, Anatole Kaletsky and Ian Bremmer. 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism Ha-Joon Chang Allen Lane, 304pp, £20 Capitalism 4.0: the Birth of a New … Continue reading For a New World, New Economics
Fixing the Right Hole
The “laws of holes” are as unforgiving as the laws of physics. If you find yourself in a hole and want to get out, the first thing you do is to stop digging. If you confront a number of holes to fix and want to know which to fix first, you choose the one which … Continue reading Fixing the Right Hole
Future generations will curse us for cutting in a slump
Co-authored with Michael Kennedy In 1937 Keynes wrote: “The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury.” Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, disagrees. Stripped of its jargon, his argument last Friday in the Financial Times is that fiscal retrenchment is needed to “consolidate recovery”. This has become … Continue reading Future generations will curse us for cutting in a slump
Consolidators versus Stimulators
All intellectual systems rely on assumptions that do not need to be spelled out because all members of that particular intellectual community accept them. These “deep” axioms are implicit in economics as well, but, if left unscrutinized, they can steer policymakers into a blind alley. That is what is happening in today’s effort, in country … Continue reading Consolidators versus Stimulators
By George, he hasn’t got it: What would JM Keynes think of George Osborne’s Budget?
I don't wish to examine the structure of George Osborne's emergency Budget, but to analyse its logic. On the structure I have only this to say: the balance between increased taxes and reduced spending is probably right. It is right to demand sacrifices from all sections of the community, though I doubt the attack on … Continue reading By George, he hasn’t got it: What would JM Keynes think of George Osborne’s Budget?
Keynes, Global Imbalances, and International Monetary Reform, Today
Co-authored with Vijay Joshi Published in Rebalancing the Global Economy: A Primer for Policymaking by Stijn Claessens, Simon Evenett and Bernard Hoekman (eds) This chapter argues that the Keynes Plan of 1941 for dealing with the trade imbalances of his time is highly relevant to the problem of East Asian-US imbalances today. Just as the first Bretton … Continue reading Keynes, Global Imbalances, and International Monetary Reform, Today
Keynes and Social Democracy Today
For decades, Keynesianism was associated with social democratic big-government policies. But John Maynard Keynes’s relationship with social democracy is complex. Although he was an architect of core components of social democratic policy – particularly its emphasis on maintaining full employment – he did not subscribe to other key social democratic objectives, such as public ownership … Continue reading Keynes and Social Democracy Today
Once Again We Must Ask: ‘Who Governs?’
In 1974, Edward Heath asked: “Who governs – government or trade unions?” Five years later British voters delivered a final verdict by electing Margaret Thatcher. The equivalent today would be: “Who governs – government or financial markets?” No clear answer has yet been given, but the question may well define the political battleground for the … Continue reading Once Again We Must Ask: ‘Who Governs?’
Why markets need governments
The recent economic meltdown was at root not a failure of character or competence, but a failure of ideas. Behind the cupidity of bankers, the weakness of regulators and the myopia of macro-policy stood a set of dominant ideas about the proper relationship between the state and the market. This amounted to two propositions: that … Continue reading Why markets need governments
Robert Skidelsky 