I can understand why the government is launching a campaign to encourage people to go back to work. Its own dire warnings about the importance of staying at home had contributed to a climate of fear that perhaps only the government itself can now undo. But there is also a danger that attempts to replicate … Continue reading Home working choices shouldn’t be the government’s business
Category: Applied economics
How more accurate data help to explain the relatively large fall in UK GDP
There is a lively debate among economists about the way in which UK statisticians are estimating the impact of Covid and the lockdown on the output of the public sector. This is a relatively arcane topic and the mainstream media can be forgiven for not yet covering it. But it is important, not least because … Continue reading How more accurate data help to explain the relatively large fall in UK GDP
A glass-half-full take on UK GDP
The real ‘news’ in today’s official GDP data for Q2 is not that the UK economy shrank for a second successive quarter in the three months to June, thus meeting the usual definition of a ‘recession’. That was a racing certainty anyway given the collapse in economic activity in April and the limited recovery in … Continue reading A glass-half-full take on UK GDP
A(nother) critique of ‘Modern Monetary Theory’
Imagine that the government could simply print whatever amount of money it needed to guarantee everyone a decent income, fantastic public services, and a secure job if they wanted one – with enough left over to save the planet too. That, for many, is the promise of a new economic paradigm known as “Modern Monetary … Continue reading A(nother) critique of ‘Modern Monetary Theory’
Plain-speaking Economics 