There is a Better Way

John Grieve Smith

Description

A lively and controversial study of the debate of the future of New Labour.

In this critical account of New Labour's economic and welfare policies in their first two terms in office, John Grieve Smith suggests that, far from pursuing any radical new agenda, they have been actively consolidating the Thatcherite Revolution. If Labour is to offer a genuine alternative to the Tories, and achieve its long standing objective of a fairer society, radical developments in policy are needed. John Grieve Smith discusses the policies needed to ensure expansion and full employment here and in the rest of the European Union. He examines the whittling away of pensions and other social security benefits, and the growing reliance on means testing, together with the need for higher and more progressive taxation if the quality of health and education services is to be improved. The greatest challenge of coming decades is to develop more effective global and regional international institutions in the economic and other fields. Here the author puts forward a programme of major reforms of the global financial system to make both developing and industrialized countries less vulnerable to the instability of financial markets. This new and updated edition of John Grieve Smith's lively and controversial book is a timely contribution to current political debate.

Prefaces, Acknowledgements; 1. The New Orthodoxy: 1. Introduction; 2. Evolution of Post-War Policy; 3. The New Orthodoxy; 4. New Labour in Power; 5. Restoring Full Employment; 2. A Fairer Society: 1. Social Injustice; 2. The Balance of Power; 3. Industry and Social Partnership; 4. The Public Sector; 5. Paying for Public Services; 3. The Welfare State: 1. The Growth of Means-Testing; 2. New Labour's Inheritance; 3. Welfare Reform; 4. The Demographic Time Bomb; 5. Time to Take Stock; 4. The Future of the EU: 1. Further Integration; 2. Managing Demand; 3. Taxes and Public Expenditure; 4. The Labour Market, 5. A European Federation?; 6. Rethinking European Policy; 7. A New ERM; 5. Reforming the Global Financial System: 1. The Threat of Instability; 2. Improving Financial Regulation; 3. The Flow of Capital to Developing Countries; 4. The Role of Taxation; 5. Managing Exchange Rates; 6. The Future of International Economic Institutions; 6. A New Economic Agenda: 1. Breaking the Thatcherite Mould; 2. Towards a Fairer Society; 3. Rebuilding the Welfare State; 4. Making European Integration Work; 5. Taming Global Finace; 6. A Better Way; Index

Sujets

• Political economy

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 30 janvier 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780857287342
• Langue: English

Extrait

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THERE IS A BETTER WAY

A NEW ECONOMIC AGENDA

Second Edition

John Grieve Smith

Anthem Press

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T HEREISA B ETTER W AY

by John Grieve Smith Second Edition, Printed 2004

© Copyright 2004 by John Grieve Smith. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the written permission from Wimbledon Publishing Company, except for the inclusion of quotations in a review.

ISBN 1 84331 153 4

Typeset by Sigma Publishing Services, India Printed in the UK by Albert Gait Ltd

Anthem Press

Anthem Press is an imprint of the Wimbledon Publishing Company P.O. Box 9779, London SW19 7QA Fax: [phone]

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By the same author BUSINESS STRATEGY FULL EMPLOYMENT: A Pledge Betrayed

Edited by the same author

STRATEGIC PLANNING IN NATIONALISED INDUSTRIES

And with Jonathan Michie

UNEMPLOYMENT IN EUROPE MANAGING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY CREATING INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY: Towards Full Employment EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE:  Jobs, Inflation and Growth GLOBALISATION, GROWTH AND GOVERNANCE: Creating An  Innovative Economy GLOBAL INSTABILITY: The Political Economy of World Economic Governance

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For my family

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Prefaces Acknowledgements

Contents

1. The New Orthodoxy  1. Introduction  2. The Evolution of Post-War Policy  3. The New Orthodoxy  4. New Labour in Power  5. Restoring Full Employment

2.

A Fairer Society 1. Social Justice 2. The Balance of Power 3. Industry and Social Partnership 4. The Public Sector 5. Paying For Public Services

3. The Welfare State  1. The Growth of Means-Testing  2. New Labour’s Inheritance  3. Welfare Reform  4. The Demographic Time Bomb  5. Time to Take Stock

4. The Future of the EU  1. Further Integration  2. Managing Demand  3. Taxes and Public Expenditure  4. The Labour Market  5. A European Federation?  6. Rethinking European Policy  7. A New ERM

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1 4 10 13 19

25 30 32 40 45

51 56 61 66 70

75 76 78 82 83 86 88

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5. Reforming the Global Financial System  1. The Threat of Instability  2. Improving Financial Regulation  3. The Flow of Capital to Developing Countries  4. The Role of Taxation  5. Managing Exchange Rates  6. The Future of International Economic Institutions

6. A New Economic Agenda  1. Breaking the Thatcherite Mould  2. Towards a Fairer Society  3. Rebuilding the Welfare State  4. Making European Integration Work  5. Taming Global Finance  6. A Better Way

Index

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93 100 103 106 109 114

119 121 124 126 131 134

136

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Preface to Second Edition

Since thefirst edition of this book was published in 2001, Tony Blair’s New Labour Government has been in office for a second eventful term; but there has been little or no change in their fundamental approach to the problems of economic and social policy. Indeed, they have, if anything gone further down the road in consolidating the neo-liberal or Thatcherite revolution. A striking example of this has been the “reform” of social security, where new benefits such as the Pension Credit and Child Tax Credit have brought more and more people within the scope of means testing. This has had the highly ironic consequence that the Tories, sensing the unpopularity of these measures, are now talking about reversing this trend and setting the basic state pension at a level which would minimize the need for supplementing it with means tested benefits. In other words, they are stealing what were Labour’s original clothes before Gordon Brown took over Keith Joseph’s! How long will it be before the Tories are calling for the renationalisation of the railways? One consequence of Labour’s shift to the right has been that the electorate have increasingly little choice, and a growing feeling that “they are all the same”. This is not good for our democracy, and could stimulate support for the far right. It has also left many Labour supporters frustrated, disillusioned and feeling they have nowhere to go. I hope that the alternative policies outlined in this book will contribute to a grow- ing discussion of where Labour should be going, if it is to be true to its fundamental objective of achieving a fairer society. The fashionable neo-liberal economic policy consensus is currently wreaking the greatest damage in the European Union. The persistence of high levels of unemployment in France, Germany and Italy threaten their political stability and ultimately democracy itself. Major reforms are needed in the Stability and Growth Pact and the remit of the European Central Bank, and a coordinated drive to stimulate demand and reduce unemployment. Looking more widely, the increasing interdependence of our national economies in the era of globalization calls for radical new thinking on international economic governance if we are to achieve any measure of control over our economic destinies, and not be blown hither and thither

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There is a Better Way

by the vagaries of thefinancial markets. There is a world-wide need for closer regional economic cooperation and the development of the ma- chinery to achieve it; and at the global level we must reform the structure and policies of the International Financial Institutions, in particular the International Monetary Fund, to achieve these aims. I should like to thank Holly Sutherland for helping me to update Chapter 3 (although she is in no way responsible for the result) and Tom Penn for encouraging me to produce another edition.

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J OHN G RIEVE S MITH

Shalford, April 2004

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