Disaster: the truth behind New Zealand’s full employment
New Zealand has crippled its labour market. Only economic illiterates would celebrate this disaster as full employment. [...]
Economic policy
An alternative briefing for the next incoming Minister of Finance
This country can once again become prosperous and productive. But only if this is a shared ambition. As the government’s lead economic adviser, it is the Treasury’s ambition to see this through. And as Minister of Finance, it should be yours too. [...]
Be worried (but about the right things)
The world economy is undergoing fundamental shifts – and these transformations could dwarf the things we fret about. [...]
Drilling further into the Government’s hole
When you are in a hole, stop drilling. That must have been the Government’s motivation for stopping oil and gas exploration. [...]
The next crisis, sooner or later
Have the responses to the Global Financial Crisis just shifted us towards another bubble economy? [...]
Delivering a future of work
There is no doubt there will be jobs in the future. But they will be different from our jobs today.
Someone still needs to design, service and repair those robots and drones that bring our pizzas. [...]
A plea to the next Chancellor
We, therefore, believe that any future Chancellor should learn from Mr Brown’s experience and begin his stewardship of the economy with a step that matches Gordon Brown’s courage in giving independence to the Bank of England. This is why we suggest sourcing out both the stewardship of the fiscal rules and the Treasury’s economic forecasting activities to an independent Fiscal Policy Committee (FPC), to be modelled on the MPC. In fact, we think that this is the first policy decision that Gordon Brown’s successor should make. [...]