In January the Prime Minister outlined his five priorities for 2023. The first pledge was to “halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security.” The other targets are more challenging, but this one at least has now been met. This is because the CPI measure of inflation fell … Continue reading Give Rishi Sunak a little credit for hitting his inflation target – but not a lot
Category: Monetary policy
Dodgy data and even flakier forecasts are making policy much harder
The unusually large revision to the gross domestic product (GDP) figures produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is only the latest of a series of issues with UK economic data and forecasts. Recent news on the public finances has also been better than predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility, while inflation has … Continue reading Dodgy data and even flakier forecasts are making policy much harder
Letter to the FT on proposals for a ‘wage inflation tax’
The wage inflation tax proposed by Sushil Wadhwani (‘Time for the UK to tax inflation’ 5 September) would be inappropriate, impractical, and ineffective. It would be inappropriate because it would prevent markets from working properly. The wages paid by each company to each employee, like the prices of any other good or service, should be … Continue reading Letter to the FT on proposals for a ‘wage inflation tax’
Three big calls that Liz Truss got right
The all too brief premiership of Liz Truss began a year ago this week. The first anniversary is another good chance to reflect not just on what went wrong, but also on what she got right. (As a supporter of ‘Trussonomics’, I feel responsible as well.) There were two big mistakes. One was to underestimate … Continue reading Three big calls that Liz Truss got right
Plain-speaking Economics 