Ann Pettifor

Public Spending

My verdict on Ed Balls’ conference speech – apologies are not enough

Published in the Guardian Cif alongside responses from Jonathon Freedland and Sheila Lawlor: Ed Balls said sorry for Labour’s record on ultra-light-touch financial regulation, and that must be acknowledged. But apologies are just not enough. He and Ed Miliband must stop attacking his electoral base, “hardworking families”, many of whom are trades unionists. As Balls […]

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Capital flows, financial crises & implications for poor countries

Last month I was invited to join the ‘Labour Party Policy Review: Making growth work for the poor and generating resources for development’. The overall group was led by Harriet Harman, and the development section was chaired by Rushnara Ali MP. Below is my short background note on mobility of capital flows, financial crises &

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Austerity: OECD economists show clear signs of ‘cold feet’ for austerity

(Photo: REUTERS / Yiorgos Karahalis ) A Greek riot policeman stands in front of graffiti written on the wall of a bank during violent demonstrations over austerity measures in Athens, May 5, 2010. Greece faced a day of violent protests and a nationwide strike by civil servants outraged by the announcement of draconian austeristy measures.

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The FT: Governments must learn to love borrowing again.

8 December, 2019 This is a remarkable editorial from the Financial Times. Reproduced below. https://www.ft.com/content/04d3614e-078a-11ea-a984-fbbacad9e7dd The global slowdown is not making the politics of macroeconomic policymaking any easier. While doves insist that softening growth requires more muscular support for aggregate demand, hawks legitimately point to the structural sources of the slowdown. This week brought more

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Bankers must be made to serve the economy…..

21 February, 2010 Once again apologies for a longish absence. This is down in part, to smashing (literally) building works, to a little grandchild-minding, and to other writing commitments. But have been itching to comment on a) Greece and the EU b) Iceland (it seems the UK is easing up on the pressure); c) the

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Why I want to be a Labour candidate

17th January, 2009. This was posted on the Compass site on the 16th January. I am shortlisted for the North West Durham Parliamentary Selection. A less likely candidate you would be hard pressed to find. I am not a local big wig and did not grow up in the constituency. I don’t have the backing

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Osborne’s puppet-masters: Société Générale.

15th January, 2009. Patient readers this blog is triggered by Jeff Randall’s column in the Daily Telegraph today. In it he inadvertently discloses the identity of the puppet-masters dictating the Tory political agenda around public spending cuts. In a somewhat histrionic column in which he describes the public deficit as a ‘disaster’ ( he should

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Green New Deal – ‘The Cuts won’t work’ report is published.

7th December, 2009 This is the press release from the new economics foundation: “Two days ahead of the pre-budget report, and as the UN climate change talks open in Copenhagen – the second report from the authors of the original Green New Deal argues that the British Chancellor is likely to miss a historic opportunity

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Debts and deficits: stocks and flows

6th December, 2009. Most economists (who should know better) confuse the government’s budget deficit with total government debt. The distinction really is important. Mixing them up is a little like confusing stocks and flows.  Or confusing your outstanding mortgage – say £200,000 – with your monthly debt repayments. They are quite different things, and if

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Cuts could increase the deficit

6th December, 2009 The Observer asked a small group of people to comment in advance of next Wednesday’s Pre-Budget Report. This from yours truly: “Public debt will rise higher if government slashes spending, and recovery will elude us. Unemployment has high costs, but productive government spending, unlike private spending, pays for itself by creating jobs

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