Austere Illusions: Fiscal contraction is contractionary, period.

In an article that originally appeared on Project Syndicate, Robert Skidelsky explores the illusions of austerity economics. Not only has austerity failed in being expansionary, it has also hit those at the bottom of the income distribution far more severely than those at the top and may have destroyed not just current but also potential output by eroding the “human capital” of the unemployed

Five minutes with Robert Skidelsky: “Capitalism is a means to an end, the end being lifting humanity out of poverty in order to enable it to lead the good life”

Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the UK’s University of Warwick and the biographer of John Maynard Keynes. His new book, co-authored with his son Edward Skidelsky and entitled How Much is Enough?: Money and the Good Life, brought him to the LSE for a public lecture. In this interview, he discusses economic insatiability and ‘the good life’ with Joel Suss, editor of our sister blog, British Politics and Policy at LSE

La ciencia económica después de la crisis mundial

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Keynes : the second coming?

This article outlines principles of a modernised macroeconomic framework, drawing on John Maynard Keynes. It explores the historical context in which Keynes’ economic theory arose, and the history of its application and subsequent replacement by neoclassical economics. The article argues that any updated Keynesian programme must address three new problems: globalization, wealth inequality and climate change. It sketches out the ways in which these might be addressed

Stylised facts

I summarise Kaldor’s “stylised facts” approach to economics through the lens of his 1966 inaugural lecture at Cambridge, “Causes of the Slow Rate of Economic Growth of the United Kingdom”. I then defend this approach as a way of preventing economics from ossifying into pure formalism, fielding objections stemming from the Lucas critique, the advancement of econometrics, and the argument that stylised facts must depend on some prior theory. Finally, I argue that modern economics could benefit not only from his “stylised fact” approach, but also from his speculative boldness and substantive contributions to economic theory

Anti-racism: totem and taboo – a review article

Anti-anti-racism is seeing a renascence in the UK. Against a backdrop of punishing austerity measures, the ascent of the neoliberal project and the undermining of multiculturalism, this resurgent critique decries anti-racism as set against white communities, argues that it exists primarily to serve a liberal elite, and that it feeds into a multicultural dogma undermining western culture. Those developing this critique argue that fear of the charge of racism prevents discussion and rational policy measures to manage immigration, ‘race’ and identity. This review article examines three key books embodying aspects of these claims, as well as showing how a liberal ceding of ground to the Right on the intersections of race and class ultimately bolsters its arguments

Conventional direction to unconventional measures: using quantitative easing to shape Eurozone fiscal capacity

Eight years after the outbreak of the crisis, the Eurozone (EZ) fiscal policy remains fragmented at the national level. This paper fills the structural gap between the monetary and fiscal dimensions of EZ economic policy by suggesting a ‘conventional’ direction to the unconventional Quantitative Easing (QE) policy of the European Central Bank (ECB). We propose an evolution for QE to tackle the shortcomings of the current ‘decentralized’ fiscal policy in the EZ. In a nutshell, we suggest a change in the composition of QE asset purchases, focusing on buying European Investment Bank (EIB) bonds that, in turn, would be used to finance real investments through the Juncker Plan programme. The rationale of our proposal is legitimised by an overview of the gloomy macroeconomic conditions of the EZ, and the situation in ongoing policies. The mechanism is described in detail, with a discussion of both its strengths and possible limitations