Raising Awareness of Economic Reality
Most policy-makers and commentators talk about the UK economy as though it were a household. This means that they impose severe and needless restrictions on the policy options they consider. At a time when the country needs to consider all valid options, we cannot afford to continue this way.
We help to raise awareness through our articles and videos and through direct contact with policy-makers, for example the pre-Budget briefing session we held for MPs in Westminster and submissions to Inquiries like Lord Darzi’s on the NHS and the House of Lords on Debt Sustainability.
We have now been given the opportunity to run a regular group for MPs, the Working Group on Progressive Economics. Roughly every 2-3 months, we will hold a session in Parliament, sponsored by Neil Duncan-Jordan, MP, with a group of MPs and Peers who have an interest in this area. The first of these events covered the Fiscal Rules: Why do we have fiscal rules? Are they immutable? Do they drive economic success? Are they compatible with National Renewal? If we didn’t have them, how would we define a responsible Budget? We published a working paper on that topic.
Future topics will include:
- Rewiring our institutions to enable success. What must the government do to drive growth without provoking the Liz Truss effect? How can the Bank of England, the Treasury and the OBR become positive forces for national renewal?
- Plugging the Leakage: If the government needs to spend more on national renewal, where can it find the money? If it needs to take more out of the economy, where can it do so without taking from the most vulnerable? How should it approach taxes, subsidies, fraud against the public purse, etc?
- What would Economic Renewal look like? What do voters care about? What would need to happen to real median wages? What would need to happen to public services? What would need to happen to the state of national infrastructure?
- Good Growth vs Bad Growth: Is GDP growth a panacea for the nation’s problems? Conversely, is it an outdated idea we should jettison? What sort of growth is harmful to the environment or to society? What sort of growth is good? What drives good growth?
If you would like to get involved, please contact Mark on [email protected]