The economic record of the 1997—2010 Labour government: an assessment

We consider the economic record of the 1997—2010 Labour government in the UK. Following a brief review of the government's inheritance from its predecessor, we review the assessments made in the other papers in this issue of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy: the change in the macroeconomic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oxford review of economic policy 2013-04, Vol.29 (1), p.1-24
Main Authors: Cobham, David, Adam, Christopher, Mayhew, Ken
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Corporate taxation
Economic conditions
Economic policy
Educational policy
Equality
Finance
Financial crisis
Government
Inheritance
Labour parties
Macroeconomic policy
Macroeconomics
Markets
Political leadership
Public investments
Public services
Social insurance
Social policy
Social services
Studies
Taxation
United Kingdom
Western Europe
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We consider the economic record of the 1997—2010 Labour government in the UK. Following a brief review of the government's inheritance from its predecessor, we review the assessments made in the other papers in this issue of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy: the change in the macroeconomic policy framework (which apparently worked well for a decade but was then struck by the global financial crisis); labour market, social security, and education policies and inequality; public investment and public service delivery (especially health); and corporate taxation. We discuss the constraints under which the government operated, how much it broke with the past, and the new frameworks it introduced. We identify strengths and weaknesses and draw lessons from the government's record about the need to remain receptive to other and critical ideas, on the one hand, and the need for Labour to spell out the kind of economy and society it wants to see develop, on the other.
ISSN:0266-903X
1460-2121
DOI:10.1093/oxrep/grt014