Recovery at any cost?
Recommend on Google+
With the Government cutting public spending, growth in the economy will have to come from the private sector. But businesses are only going to increase output if someone wants to buy it. So we have to start spending.
This is also the view of Charlie Bean, the Bank of England’s deputy governor. So while we have learnt that it was our profligate spending habits at the root of the recent recession and that savings ratios need to rise, we are now being exhorted to spend. A magazine article for the BBC entitled ‘How to spend to mend the economy’ looks at the purchases that are most likely to boost the economy.
It’s a fun idea to brainstorm – what should we buy to best help UK recovery?
The article suggests that we choose a UK-built car, holiday at home, fill up with petrol and indulge in vices like smoking and drinking. But before we all book our trip to Newquay in a mini, we should consider the negative externalities of such a strategy. This too is a useful exercise.
It begs the question – are the external costs of spending in such a way (more waste, greater depletion of resources, more CO2 emissions etc) outweighed by the external benefits of recovery?
Or should we be considering a more long term view of sustainable growth?
blog comments powered by Disqus
Unit 2 Macro: Cyclical and Structural Economic Issues Facing the UK [23 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Positive and Negative Multiplier Effects [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Importance of Productivity [20 May 2012]
Q&A: What do we need to know about output gaps? [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Output Gap [20 May 2012]
Revision notes on unemployment [20 May 2012]
Grexit - Andrew Balls on Greece and the Euro [16 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision Notes on Supply-side Policies [10 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Unemployment Glossary [5 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Cycle Glossary [5 May 2012]
Macro Revision - Key Statistics on the UK Economy [4 May 2012]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [29 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Britain back in Recession [29 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: The Euro Zone Crisis (Revision) [22 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: How the Economic Cycle affects Businesses [6 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Pain in Spain as Fiscal Austerity Bites [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision on Capital Investment [30 Mar 2012]
Intergenerational Equity - Fairness and the Slump [28 Mar 2012]
Life in the Slow Lane - UK Growth in 2011 Lags the Euro Area [28 Mar 2012]
George Buckley at the Millfield Economics Society [28 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Tax on Beer [16 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Inequality - The Rise of Fuel Poverty [15 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Policies to Drive Economic Recovery [9 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Might Oil Prices Bring another Recession? [4 Mar 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: King on the UK Economy [15 Feb 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Money, Debt and the New World Order [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Economics of Fiscal Deficit Reduction [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Factors Driving Business Investment [10 Jan 2012]
2011 in Review - The US Economy [27 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: The UK Housing Market in 2011 [26 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: The Rise in Self Employment [17 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Does UK Manufacturing have a Future? [30 Nov 2011]
Where is the UK Economy? National Output [22 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Video Clips on Unemployment [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Impulses to Change Management Models [5 Nov 2011]
UK Unemployment in October 2011 [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Unit Labour Costs and Inflation [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: UK suffers a weak recovery [12 Oct 2011]
Why Is Macroeconomics Such A Mess? [11 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Greek Economy at Default’s Door [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: IMF Flags up Risks of Double Dip [20 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Income and Wealth in the UK [12 Sep 2011]
UK Macro: Risks of a Double Dip Recession [12 Sep 2011]
Mixing with the Nobel Economists [4 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: GDP per person since the credit crunch [19 Aug 2011]
What might happen on August 2nd? [12 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Reducing Unemployment after a Recession [11 Jul 2011]
AQA ECON4 Context [20 Jun 2011]
A2 Macro: Consumer Spending [30 May 2011]
AQA Macro: Remember to revise inflation [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Deflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Trend Growth [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Economic Recovery [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Recession [23 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation and Economic Policies [18 May 2011]
UK Economy Update: What Mervyn Said [11 May 2011]
Interest Rates Held at 0.5% once again [5 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation in Markets [4 May 2011]
AS and A2 Macro Revision: Keynesian Economics [28 Apr 2011]
A2 Micro: EU Aviation - State Aid and State Ownership [28 Apr 2011]
A2 Macro: Back to Roubini - a Year On! [11 Apr 2011]
AS Micro: Prices for New and Second Hand Cars [9 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Double-Dip Recession [8 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Under-employment [7 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Fiscal Austerity [6 Apr 2011]
Focus on Poland [5 Apr 2011]
Tracking the effects of the recession on GDP [5 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Expansionary Monetary Policy [4 Apr 2011]
Timetric: Unemployment in the US Economy [1 Apr 2011]
The Scale of Remittances [1 Apr 2011]
The New North - Population Shift [23 Mar 2011]
AS Macro Revision: Investment Spending [12 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Part Time Working in the UK [11 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Total Employment in the UK Economy [10 Mar 2011]
Ireland - Mass Unemployment and Shrinking GDP [10 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Income Tax and VAT Revenues [8 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Research and Development in the UK [7 Mar 2011]
A virtuous circle of recovery - Paul Krugman [6 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Regional Unemployment in the UK [4 Mar 2011]
EU Economics: Germany leads Euro Zone revival [25 Feb 2011]
EU Economics - Life at the jagged edge of the Euro Zone [20 Feb 2011]
Never Mind Plan B - Plan V needed for the UK Economy! [17 Feb 2011]
David Smith on Shifting Sands in the Global Economy [8 Feb 2011]
EU Economics: Hopes for a low carbon future in Europe [3 Feb 2011]
Tracking Commodity Prices - Free Chart Download [26 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Will the rise in VAT harm the UK’s economic performance? [17 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: What economic factors affect the demand for new cars? [9 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Will the Government spending cuts affect inflation? [3 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Why might Europe’s weaker economies struggle to grow in the next few years? [2 Jan 2011]
Revision: Consequences of Unemployment [1 Jan 2011]
A2 Macro Revision: The Stock Cycle [31 Dec 2010]
Keynes spotted in London [29 Dec 2010]
EU Economics: EU Economy in Charts Jan 2011 [29 Dec 2010]
EU Economics: Estonia joins the Euro [27 Dec 2010]
EU Economics: European Fiscal Austerity Measures [24 Dec 2010]
An amusing introduction to the recession [1 Dec 2010]
Using Google Docs - The Irish Financial Crisis [29 Nov 2010]
ECONOMICS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Join over 6,000 other Economics Teachers in the UK and around the world who receive the tutor2u regular Economics Resource Email Newsletter. Get special offers, first news of latest resources, teaching ideas, conferences and workshops + loads of great ideas for teaching economics from our blog authors.
