Economic policy

In good company doctor fashion, Cromwell decides he can turn the business around. He takes a look at the stock, casts his eyes over the account, then fires the chief clerk and trains up a junior to take his place. “People are always the key, and if you look them in the face you can be pretty sure if they’re honest and up to the job.” Today we would say that he understood the importance of human capital. … [Read more...] about Wolf Hall – the economic lessons

The furlough scheme has supported more than 9 million workers since March and been hailed a success by business leaders who say it should continue to cover the leisure and hospitality sectors as well as hard-pressed manufacturing industries such as aerospace. … [Read more...] about Bank of England’s top economist warns against furlough scheme extension

Avoiding a return to the old normal will require an alternative politics of prosperity: one that presses for greater equality, gives priority to wellbeing over economic growth and is willing to challenge the consumerist vision of the good life. It may be too late to start moving towards these goals – and the journey will certainly be difficult. But coronavirus has shown us that huge societal changes that were previously thought impossible can be implemented relatively easily. Some of the experiments trialled during the pandemic could become permanent, such as more home-based working. … [Read more...] about The pandemic is an opportunity to reconsider what makes a good life

This kind of bracing market analysis was highly popular in the early 1980s, when vast swaths of industrial England were judged to be past their sell-by date and abandoned to their fate. The result was a lost generation of the unemployed, a collapse of collective self-esteem in formerly proud communities and the emergence of resentments and inequalities that persist today. Mr Haldane talked hopefully of “re-equipping” businesses and employees for the brave new world, post-Covid. But to turn off the tap of financial support this autumn, as the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, still seems determined to do, would be premature, cruel and short-sighted. The necessary adjustment that needs to be made, with a second wave of the virus ever more likely and the drag anchor of Brexit creating new economic burdens, is to the chancellor’s timetable for winding up the JRS. … [Read more...] about The Guardian view on ending furlough next month: reckless and cruel

Equivalent to almost a quarter of the government’s annual budget for running the public sector, making welfare payments and investing in infrastructure, the £210bn sum, the NAO said, was the office’s latest cost-estimate of the government response. … [Read more...] about Coronavirus bill has cost UK government £210bn, spending watchdog says