There Is An Alternative: National Economic Strategies In A Crowded World
Seminar
In March 2014 Civitas, the civil society think-tank, published a booklet by John Mills, “There Is An Alternative: An economic strategy for 2015”. John laid out “A Ten Point Agenda for Getting the UK Economy Back on Track”. Some points have divided people for years, e.g. the importance of devaluation. Other points are newly contentious, such as the need to promote growth to afford the things we want, e.g. building a ‘greener’ economy. The booklet attracted much favourable comment, e.g. Roger Bootle liked the idea of targeting a lower exchange rate for the pound. The reshaped UK economy of 2014, supposedly nominally back where it was in 2007, looks odd. Among the G7 only Italy has performed more poorly over the past seven years. As The Economist remarked on 2 August: “Between 2008 and 2009 sterling depreciated by 25%, leading economists to predict an export boom. George Osborne, Britain’s chancellor, foresaw a “march of the makers” as manufacturing firms kicked into action. All such predictions were off: exports are flat, while manufacturing and construction output are far below their 2008 levels.”
Yet John wants further exchange rate devaluation. And John contends that his growth policies apply more generally, not just to the UK. Can we all devaluate our way to growth? Or will we all wind up running to stand still? To give John’s ideas a good airing, we have set aside half the time for audience discussion. More importantly, we have assembled a panel to help us, first, understand the UK dynamic and, second, to provide an international context with comparisons, particularly to Japan.
Resources
Further reading
- John Mills, "There Is An Alternative - An Economic Strategy for 2015", Civitas, March 2014
Links
Booking
Date
Thursday, 09 October 2014
Time
8:30 - 10:00 BST
Cost
Free
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Speakers
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John Mills
JML
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George Tait Edwards
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Michael Mainelli
Chair
Z/Yen Group