Or what Policy Exchange were going to call their latest piece of research, until a last minute change of heart. UPDATE: I would want to point out that anyone reading Andrew Lilico’s excellent submission to the SMPC can tell that he can produce interesting empirical stuff. As readers of this blog will know, there are [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Fiscal Policy’
29 Mar
Efficiency savings: I’ll admit it, I’m confused.
I’m going to be producing reams of words here, there and everywhere about the Chancellor’s debate, so I ought to get on top of the big issues. Help me out on this one. (PS: This post is being updated as my feeble understanding rises) The Conservatives put cutting the deficit top of their list of [...]
24 Mar
A cute little village anecdote
For those of you who buried in the spending-tax-cuts and what-caused-the-deficit debate. Policy Exchange have released a very stimulating document about tax options. It takes a number of striking positions, in particular a surprise attack on VAT as an income-tax equivalent that I hope to address later today, and an analysis of the idea of [...]
19 Mar
What would YOU do with £21bn?
I must admit that when I wrote yesterday’s post, I did not expect it to be that high. I still stand by the general principle – when demand-led items improve, use them for the debt. ‘Demand led’ meaning: caused by better than expected economic outcomes – better revenues, better AME caused by lower unemployment etc. [...]
18 Mar
The right sort of prudence …
The FT has been broadly supportive of the government’s wait-till-the-conditions-are-right attitude to fiscal tightening – what with Chris Giles and Martin Wolf setting directions there. So you might be surprised to read its leader supporting the EC’s criticisms of the government, and its lack of clarity as to future deficit tightening. But in Britain Lacks [...]
15 Mar
Three graphs, for your edification and amusement
The first two stem from Chris’ excellent recent post about the fiscal deficit. Not just because it links to me, but for the almost zen-like calm about deficits that it imparts. You can’t do anything about them with fiscal policy – they just reflect the mirror image of the private sector lending decisions, which are [...]
8 Mar
The fiscal battle heats up. Business versus …. who?
There are days when I would recommend everyone read the FT, and this is one. Because they have put Credit Where It’s Due in their leader about Quantitative Easing. I hope this helps it come to the attention of some of the thinkers that have helped inspire the second suggestion: that nominal demand be targetted [...]
26 Feb
Martin Wolf makes me envious here
A Balancing Act/Slash and Grow/Credit Where It’s Due (link to follow on Monday) are about three things: fiscal policy, where growth might come from (in demand terms), and monetary policy. Wolf ties them up beautifully in a few hundred words. Balancing Act said that fiscal deficits have to rise in a recession – well duh [...]
2 Feb
Does high debt mean we are DOOMED, part MMCXXVI
I promise I will get bored of this soon. But I thought posterity needed to know that I have attended two events on this subject in the last week. The first at the IoG has a higher suit ratio than I had ever witnessed, but was correspondingly high quality. It’s Chatham House, so I cannot [...]
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