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 Inside the Department of Economic Affairs - Samuel Brittan's new book
Available from Oxford University Press and Amazon
The rise and fall of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) parallels the promised but eventually unfulfilled modernization agenda of the 1964-6 Wilson government. The diary kept by Samuel Brittan (in contravention of civil service rules) for the fourteen months in which he served as an 'irregular' in the DEA provides a unique source for understanding the growth ambitions of the new government and why they quickly ran into the sands...more |
Politicians should stop their talk of competitiveness
The Financial Times 14/06/13
The reason why I feel strongly on the matter is that competitiveness language makes world trade - and with it much of economic and even foreign policy - a zero-sum game in which my gain is your loss. Talk of "performance", on the other hand, suggests that it can be a game from which all can benefit...more |
Modern economics for the diligent seeker of truth
The Financial Times 31/05/13
The diligent seeker of truth about our current discontents should turn to a book whose title seems almost designed to be as unglamorous as possible: The Rediscovery of Classical Economics, by David Simpson, former economic adviser to Standard Life. Its ostensible object is to resurrect what he calls the "classical tradition" emanating from Adam Smith and distinguish it not only from Keynesian economics but also from today's mainstream - known to aficionados as the "neoclassical" orthodoxy. Without going into academic details, this orthodoxy stands accused of replacing a theory of relative prices (how many loaves will buy a pullover) with a more sophisticated account of economic growth, and of foisting on us a theory of "rational expectations" that are anything but rational...more |
Britons want to work more - let's help them do so
The Financial Times 17/05/13
Most people do not have much choice in how many hours of work they do, which is determined by their employer. But surveys have asked whether people would rather work more or fewer hours each week if given the choice. Before 2008 the number who would like to work extra hours was balanced by those who would like to work fewer hours. But from 2008 onwards there was a big divergence. By the end of last year the total number of extra hours wanted was twice as great as the number wanting fewer hours...more |
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