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"Great Britain Economic conditions 1997-"
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Britannia unchained : global lessons for growth and prosperity
Britain is at a cross-roads; from the economy, to the education system, to social mobility, Britain must learn the rules of the 21st century, or face a slide into mediocrity. Brittania Unchained travels around the world, exploring the nations that are triumphing in this new age, seeking lessons Britain must implement to carve out a bright future.
Book
The Consumer, Credit and Neoliberalism
This book is an investigation into the economic policy formulation and practice of neoliberalism in Britain from the 1950s through to the financial crisis and economic downturn that began in 2007-8. It demonstrates that influential economists, such as F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman, authors at key British think tanks such as the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies, and important political figures of the Thatcher and New Labour governments shared a similar conception of the consumer.
For neoliberals, the idea that consumers were weak in the face of businesses and large corporations was almost offensive. Instead, consumers were imagined to be sovereign agents in the economy, whose consumption decisions played a central role in the construction of their human capital and in the enabling of their aspirations. Consumption, just like production, came to be viewed as an enterprising and entrepreneurial activity. Consequently, from the early 1980s until the present day, it was felt necessary that banks should have the freedom to meet the borrowing needs of consumers. Credit rationing would be a thing of the past. Just like businesses, consumers and households could use debt to expand their stock of personal assets.
By utilizing the method of French philosopher Michel Foucault this book provides an original analysis of the policy ideas and political speeches of key figures in the New Right, in government and at the Bank of England. And it addresses the key question as to why policy-makers both in Britain and the United States did little or nothing to stem rising consumer and household indebtedness, instead always choosing to see increasing house prices and homeownership as a positive to be encouraged.
eBook
Managing the economy, managing the people : narratives of economic life in Britain from Beveridge to Brexit
The volume provides a distinctive new account of British economic life since the Second World War, focusing upon the ways in which successive governments, in seeking to manage the economy, have sought simultaneously to ‘manage the people’: to try and manage popular understanding of economic issues. In doing so, governments have sought not only to shape expectations for electoral purposes but to construct broader narratives about how ‘the economy’ should be understood. The starting point is to ask what goals have been focused upon; how these have been constructed to appeal to the population; and how far the population has accepted these narratives. In its first part, the volume analyses the development of the major narratives from the 1940s onwards. This part covers the notion of ‘austerity’ and its particular meaning in the 1940s; the rise of a narrative of ‘economic decline’ from the late 1950s, and the subsequent attempts to ‘modernize’ the economy; the attempts to ‘roll back the state’ from the 1970s; the impact of ideas of ‘globalization’ in the 1980s and 1990s; and, finally, the way the crisis of 2008/9 onwards was constructed as a problem of ‘debts and deficits’. The second part of the volume then focuses in on four key issues in attempts to ‘manage the people’: productivity, the balance of payments, inflation, and unemployment. It shows how in each case governments have sought to get the populace to understand these issues in a particular light, and have shaped strategies to that end.
eBook
UK economy: the crisis in perspective
1. Introduction and overview / Gabriele Giudice, Robert Kuenzel and Tom Spingbett -- 2. Accounting for UK economic performance 1973-2009 / Ray Barrell, Dawn Holland and Iana Liadze -- 3. British labour market performance before the crisis, 1993-2007 / Christopher A. Pissarides -- 4. Unsustainable consumption : the structural flaw behind the UK's long boom / Martin Weale -- 5. The UK's external position / Robert Kuenzel -- 6. Long-term effects of fiscal policy on the size and distribution of the pie in the UK / Xavi Ramos and Oriol Roca-Sagales -- 7. The changing relationship between the UK economy and its banking sector / Tom Springbett -- 8. Policy efficacy in the crisis, exit strategies and the return of growth / E. Philip Davis and Dilruba Karim -- 9. Disease and cure in the UK : the fiscal impact of the crisis and the policy response / Rowena Crawford, Carl Emmerson and Gemma Tetlow -- 10. The government's strategy for sustainable growth / Dave Ramsden.
eBook
Great Britain? : how we get our future back
Things have not been going Great for Britain. Wages are flatlining, taxes are rising, and public services are collapsing. Our children can't afford to buy a house and our neighbours are reliant on foodbanks. We are all yearning for a way out of the financial crises, generational wars and political dysfunction that dominate our lives. Most of all we want our - and Britain's - future back. Torsten Bell offers both a clear-eyed diagnosis of the problems facing the country - a uniquely toxic combination of huge inequality and stagnant economic growth - and a hopeful, bold vision for the alternative. As he shows, the Britain of today contains the raw materials to build a better Britain tomorrow - an investment nation of good work and secure homes, and a society in which both burdens and prosperity are shared.
Book
The labour market in winter : the state of working Britain
This book provides an overview of the key issues concerning the performance of the labour market, and the policy issues surrounding it, with a focus on the recent recession and its aftermath. The book contains assessments of the effects of many policies introduced over the last ten years in employment, education, and welfare. The result is a comprehensive analysis of the economic downturn and the Labour government's record in the field of employment, spanning its time in office.
eBook
The Insecure Workforce
For the past two decades employment in Britain has been marked by a search for greater flexibility in the availability and use of labour. In recent years, however, there has been mounting concern at the costs of this trend and an appreciation that the consequence of a flexible labour market may be an insecure workforce, vulnerable to exploitation. It is also widely claimed that rising worker insecurity imposes costs on the wider economy and society through lower rates of skill formation, reduced consumer confidence and family instability.
This collection of essays uniquely brings together writers from the fields of human resource management, industrial relations, social policy, sociology, economics and politics to explore the validity of these claims. Specific issues considered in the book include:
* labour markets and the growth of insecure work * trade unions and the representation of insecure workers * job insecurity and personal well-being * insecurity and political behaviour.
This original analysis through the outstanding essays, leads to the book’s key message: that re-building security at work should be a major concern of policy makers.
eBook