Our macroeconomic reliance on debt, and the focus on aggregate demand, is based upon a wide Keynesian consensus.
Less attention is paid to the savings that must provide the funding for investment, the centrality of assets and importance of the core infrastructure systems – natural and conventional. Microeconomic principles, such as the polluter pays and public money for public goods, provide guides for developing sustainable government policies.
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It’s not rocket science
In this video with Susan Uthayakumar, Prologis chief energy and sustainability officer, Dieter discusses why economic growth and sustainability aren’t mutually exclusive. Read more…
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Podcast 60: Transformation: a case of blood, sweat, tears … and many years
The government is planning radical transformation, to health, education, rail travel, and with a view to achieving net zero electricity by 2030. These bold plans raise questions about what is going to be achieved, by when, and how. The politics are key, as is the timing. Such transformation takes years (many more than Starmer is… Read more…
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Podcast 59: Britain’s four fundamental economic problems
The government’s overriding objective is economic growth, and it plans to get there by building lots more houses, and a dash for net zero electricity with the implausible target of 2030. There may be some merit in both, but economic growth is not caused by houses or wind turbines. What inhibits Britain’s economic growth is… Read more…
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Podcast 58: Zombie utilities
‘Easy money’ (quantitative easing and low nominal/negative real interest rates) has left a legacy of lots of zombie companies that should not still be in business, because they are not genuinely profitable. Cheap debt washed through the banking system keeps them afloat. For the utilities, easy money has had a devastating impact, encouraging widespread financial engineering.… Read more…
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Podcast 57: Dash for growth means dash for debt
The Labour government is on a mission to grow the economy to pay for all the public expenditure needed. But where will this growth come from? Previous major economic growth (e.g. in Germany, Japan and China) has had two common factors: exports and high levels of domestic savings. Labour’s plans don’t include anything about exports… Read more…
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Everything for sale – does it matter who owns the Royal Mail and other core utilities and infrastructures?
The Royal Mail may join a long list of privatised utilities and infrastructure companies sold off to foreign investors. Almost all of the electricity and gas industries are in foreign hands, including nuclear. Look closely at the private equity and the share registers of the remaining listed companies across the utilities, and foreign investors overwhelmingly… Read more…
