As one of the witnesses quoted in the Lords report, perhaps I’m entitled to comment on the conclusions reached. The coverage of this and the OBR Fiscal Risks Report, also released last week, such as I’ve seen, is mostly as expected: alarmism plus vague assertions about difficult decisions. 1/n
Another day and another good piece on UK productivity (and the case for focusing on its growth). Also featuring a report from my favourite select committee in Parliament. www.thetimes.com/article/c2e0...
With the government borrowing burden predicted to balloon to 274% of GDP in the next 50 years, the trick will be to slow the rise in debt without killing growth
The Lords report first: the headline conclusion is that we should switch to a fixed — rather than rolling — five year debt stock target. I’d be surprised if I’m the only one of the quoted witnesses who regards this as precisely the wrong conclusion. committees.parliament.uk/committee/17...
The Economic Affairs Committee publishes its report ‘National debt: it’s time for tough decisions’.
When politicians are trying to understand the importance of gross public debt or deficits, do you think they are aware, or is it explained adequately to them, that how acceptable or how easy to finance they are is highly dependent on what everyone else (states) is doing at the time?