One further thought- even if public investment crowds in private investment (as appears highly likely), thereby increasing capacity over time, there's still a short-term capacity crunch to be negotiated due to the lack of meaningful slack in the economy- however you configure your fiscal rules...
Great article on the Chancellor's dilemma- wait for growth to invest, or invest to trigger growth? (Tho depressing that it's even a dilemma, given the post-2010 failure of the former approach plus the constraints that crumbling public services/infrastructure clearly place on output in the UK today.)
Really useful primer on post-neoliberalism debates in the US. A lot to unpack here that is highly relevant to discussions of industrial strategy, the entrepreneurial state, and crisis management in different national contexts. Recommended reading for political economists and policy types alike!
The most useful way AI could be integrated into search would be an algorithm that de-ranks pages that have been clearly written by AI.
A reminder of how well-used (or not) the current UK youth mobility quotas are: open.substack.com/pub/wewanted...
Fiscal responsibility does matter. But, as Mariana Mazzucato argues here, it would be a catastrophic error for the government to think that "fiscal responsibility means waiting until debt is down and growth is up before investing." archive.ph/PzZMo
“The UK is in dire need of public investment and financial markets would support extra borrowing for greater public investment. Excessive fiscal caution may well mean that public investment doesn’t rise enough to have a large impact on long-term growth." www.ft.com/content/a21a...
[FREE TO READ] Manchester mayor says powerful finance ministry has to fundamentally change way it thinks
This is typically brilliant stuff from Peter. My view is that Labour’s red lines on Europe and on tax, which make growth and public spending improvements much harder, make the fragility of their victory even starker. Labour are walking a red tightrope.
Labour should beware. Its majority is more fragile than it looks. Its landslide victory concealed a haemorrhage of its core voters. My analysis for Prospect explores what happened and what the party needs to do now. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/678...
The party has lost the core vote it could rely on. In 2029, that may be a problem
not to mention unreliable transport infrastructure, patchy law enforcement+penal system, outdated energy grid, insufficient renewables/nuclear, lack of affordable housing stock in areas of high demand...
"The government has inherited spending plans that imply substantial real-terms cuts in public investment. We do not see how the planned “decade of national renewal” can take place if these cuts are delivered. It would repeat the mistakes of the past. Me & others in FT: on.ft.com/4da39FU