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    Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain
    Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain
    Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain

    By Johnna Montgomerie

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    About this ebook

    The book leverages the insights of key economic experts who were first brought together at Goldsmiths University of London in March 2015 in order to explore alternatives to financialisation. It brings key thinkers into dialogue about what needs to change in our understanding and analysis of the state of the UK economy. Authors speak to the groundswell of interest in wrestling ‘the economy’ away from the orthodox economics expertise that dominates elite policy circles.

    Presented as a collection of short essays, this book mobilises a variety of expertise to answer two simple questions: what needs to change in our understanding of the economy? How or why does [it] need to change?

    Drawing on a wide range of academic and non-academic experts, each with their own area of specialism, this volume discovers a new collaborative research agenda where the economy is a human, rather than abstract, endeavour.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohnna Montgomerie
    Release dateMay 27, 2015
    ISBN9781310528781
    Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain
    Author

    Johnna Montgomerie

    Dr. Johnna Montgomerie, Lecturer in Economics, Political Economy Research Centre (PERC), Goldsmiths, University of London. She has published widely on financialisation and household debt, she is the lead author of The Politics of Indebtedness: A Public Interest Report and principle investigator for the ESRC Knowledge Exchange ‘Crafting an Alternative Politics of Debt’ and ESRC Seminar Series ‘From Recovery to Discovery’ her latest articles are “Round the Houses: Homeownership the failures of asset-based welfare in the UK” and “America’s Debt Safety-net”.

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      Book preview

      Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain - Johnna Montgomerie

      Forging Economic Discovery

      in 21st Century Britain

      Edited by Johnna Montgomerie

      ISBN: 9781310528781

      © Political Economy Research Centre, Goldsmiths University of London. All rights reserved.

      Published by Johnna Montgomerie and distributed by Smashwords.

      Cite: Author (2015). ‘Chapter Title’, in Montgomerie, J. (Ed.) Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain. Proceedings from ‘Recovery to Discovery’ Conference on Alternatives to Financialisation, Goldsmiths University, March 19-20, 2015. ESRC Grant # ES/M003051/1

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contributors

      Foreword: Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain

      PART 1: TRANSFORMING THE EVERYDAY GROWTH ECONOMY

      1. Why is Recovery so Elusive?

      2. Plan F: A Feminist Economics Strategy for Post-crisis Britain

      3. The Personal is the Political Economy

      PART 2: PERCEIVING THE ECONOMY AS SOCIETY

      4. The Economy is More than the Sum of its Parts

      5. Institutionalise Human Communication

      6. A Feminist Rethinking of Economics and Politics

      PART 3: DISCOVERING THE ECONOMY OF PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS

      7. It’s the (Foundational) Economy Stupid!

      8. Building the Northern Powerhouse from the Rubble of the Old

      9. Towards a New Industrial Imaginary for Britain

      PART 4: REFORMING A FINANCIALISED ECONOMY

      10. How Financialisation Forecloses Democracy (and what to do about it)

      11. The Treasury View of English Higher Education: Student Loans, Illiquid Assets and Fiscal Control

      12. Regulators Must Get a Grip on Local Authorities’ Exposure to The City

      CONTRIBUTORS

      Joel Benjamin Joel@moveyourmoney.org.uk ~ @Gian_TCatt

      Campaigner at Move Your Money, Co-founder of Community Reinvest, and Research Associate at the Political Economy Research Centre, Goldsmiths University.

      Craig Berry craig.berry@sheffield.ac.uk ~ @craigpberry

      Deputy Director, Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute, University of Sheffield

      William Davies w.davies@gold.ac.uk ~ @davies_will

      Co-Director of Political Economy Research Centre (PERC), Goldsmiths, University of London

      Andrew Gamble a.m.gamble@sheffield.ac.uk

      Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute, University of Sheffield. Author of Crisis Without End?: The Unravelling of Western Prosperity

      Mathew Lawrence m.lawrence@ippr.org ~ @DantonsHead

      Research Fellow, Institute for Public Policy Research.

      Author of Definancialisation: a democratic reformation of finance (2014)

      Andrew McGettigan http://andrewmcgettigan.org/ ~ @amcgettigan

      Independent Journalist and Researcher — author of The Great University Gamble

      James Meadway @meadwaj

      Senior Economist, New Economics Foundation

      Johnna Montgomerie j.montgomerie@gold.ac.uk ~ @j_montgomerie

      Lecturer in Economics, Department of Politics, Goldsmiths University

      Michael Moran

      University of Manchester Business School

      Simon Parker simon.parker@york.ac.uk ~ @sparkerworld

      Senior Lecturer, University of York.

      Ruth Pearson r.peason@leeds.ac.uk

      Emeritus Professor of Development Studies, University of Leeds

      Daniela Tepe-Belfrage d.tepe-belfrage@sheffield.ac.uk

      Faculty Research Fellow, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield.

      Sara Wallin sara.wallin@sheffield.ac.uk

      Research Associate at PERC, Goldsmiths and PhD Candidate, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield

      FOREWORD

      Forging Economic Discovery in 21st Century Britain

      Britain’s economic recovery is fragile. Even achieving this point of ‘recovery’ took longer to achieve than the Great Depression, with inflation hovering at 0% and dipping into negative the UK economy (along with the rest of Europe) is facing the great unknown of ‘debt-deflation’. Projections of the future are not much better; there is only Austerity and a continued dependence on finance-led growth, where credit creation fuels asset bubbles and household debt drives economic activity. Thus the need for a series of essays bringing key thinkers into dialogue about what needs to change in our understanding and analysis of the state of the UK economy.

      This eBook speaks to the groundswell of interest in wrestling ‘the economy’ away from the orthodox economics expertise that dominates elite policy circles that treats the economy as an abstract series of models of markets built on assumptions about individuals’ rational choice or inferences about individual behaviour preferences. This type of orthodox economic analysis is not about ‘the economy’ at all – it’s about testing the validity of causal claims. We combat this framework by offering new ways of understanding the deep-seated problems in the UK economy that manifest as entrenched stagnation and perpetual crises.

      What began as a two-day event hosted by the Political Economy Research Centre (PERC) at Goldsmiths (March 19-20, 2015) – What are the alternatives to financialisation? – has become this collection of short interventions that mobilises different topics of expertise to answer two simple questions: what needs to change in our understanding of the economy? How or why does [it] need to change? Each author has their own area of specialism and this volume discovers a new collaborative research agenda where the economy is a human, rather than abstract, endeavour.

      Each section explores key frontiers of discovery to better understand the economy as made up of people, places and things but also to combat the intensifying inequality that defines the contemporary British economy and society. PERC was established to develop fresh theoretical and empirical investigations of capitalism today, and to do so in ways that speak to various audiences, both inside and outside of academia. Goldsmiths has long been part of bringing critical and cultural perspectives to bear on the institutions and practices of modern societies, but too often the ‘economy’ is treated as a separate field, to be studied by specialists. With publications like this one, we hope that PERC will help bring political economy to life, and foster wide-ranging public debates about the basic principles and institutions of the economy today, in ways that reach well beyond the confines of economics as a discipline.

      PART 1

      TRANSFORMING THE EVERYDAY GROWTH ECONOMY

      1.

      Why is Recovery so Elusive?

      Andrew Gamble

      What needs to change is how we ‘think through’ the problems the UK economy faces on its path to recovery. Specifically, the kind of ‘growth’ we want, the definition of well-being and security we use to contextualise growth, and the types of investments needed to prioritise social reproduction, social security, and respect for ecological limits.

      In his budget speech on March 18th George Osborne declared that Britain was walking tall again. Unemployment is down, inflation is down, the deficit is down, and growth is up. Britain is the comeback economy, more successful than any other economy in Europe. All this is due to the way the Coalition managed the economy since 2010, sticking to its austerity plans despite opposition, and now the Conservative majority is reaping the reward. The recovery is in full swing but the Government is still acting prudently. There were no big pre-election giveaways in the budget. Instead as George Osborne said modestly: ‘We are mending the roof while the sun is shining.’¹ The FTSE index surged to its highest ever point the day after the budget, boosted by

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