Got a longish read in @phenomenalworld.bsky.social on the budget, Labour's economic strategy and UK political economy. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bey... - ThreadSky

jomichell.bsky.social • 110 days ago

Got a longish read in @phenomenalworld.bsky.social on the budget, Labour's economic strategy and UK political economy.

https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/beyond-growth/

Comments

anthonypainter.bsky.social•110 days ago

Interesting piece. Public sector pay awards and increases to the national living wage are good contra regional inequality policies on this basis? ENICs less so- there's lots of workers at the margins in the regions.

jomichell.bsky.social•110 days ago

Yes, I think so. I suspect that the unintended consequences of the NICs increase could be non-trivial.

jomichell.bsky.social•110 days ago

On headline figures--increased spending, tax and borrowing--the budget shows ambition to tackle the UK's longstanding problems. The implementation is less encouraging--there are obvious problems with the allocation of tax increases and front-loaded spending.

https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/beyond-growth/

jomichell.bsky.social•110 days ago

The budget doesn't answer questions about whether Labour have an economic strategy. Avoiding cuts in public investment is essential but will not be sufficent in isolation. There's a danger that higher public investment is seen as a magic bullet.

jomichell.bsky.social•110 days ago

There are two obvious risks to a potential investment push strategy: inflation and the electorate.

First, higher investment alongside inflationary pressure may require consumption-reducing offsets such as further tax increases. Does Labour have the political stomach for these?

jomichell.bsky.social•110 days ago

Potentially a greater problem: benefits from investment take time to arrive. Will the electorate settle for jam tomorrow given the cost of living crisis, a hostile media and a resurgent far right? Labour needs to find a narrative about how lives will improve.

https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/beyond-growth/

ealinghaaland.bsky.social•109 days ago

I saw £1bn is going into bus services. If this is done well presumably it ticks a number of boxes:

✔️ tangible
✔️ relatively quick and easy
✔️ useful
✔️ makes a difference to people

More like this?

cacrisalves.bsky.social•110 days ago

Sharing my students now! ✨

angusarmstrong.bsky.social•110 days ago

Good article. Investment is necessary but not sufficient. Marshall included ‘organisation’ as factor of production - which gets at your point of including regions (and income groups) - perhaps even finer.

econundertow.bsky.social•110 days ago

We are entering a world where increased business activity (growth) is becoming unaffordable.

The question raised here is when do governments stop throwing good credit after bad?

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