The Tyranny of Nostalgia: Half a Century of British Economic Decline

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relentless decline. This is a point I have made before but cannot be repeated too often, given the UK economic One especially helpful aspect of the author’s approach is to identify the principal tenets of the dominant paradigm of economic thinking – or “economic orthodoxy” – which prevailed at any one time and demonstrating how this drove the policy debate and resulting policy decisions. Thus, we witness the downfall of naïve Keynesianism in the face of the onset of “stagflation”, the (brief) ascent of monetarism and all the subsequent thinking regarding how GDP growth could be maximised while the volatility of economic growth and inflation is simultaneously minimised. Which brings me to a fine new book by the economist Russell Jones. Entitled The Tyranny of Nostalgia – Half a Century of British Economic Decline, it explains, among many other things, how “the end of the period under study saw the fabric of the UK’s economic and social infrastructure stretched dangerously thin”. Moreover, “Britain’s once proud and dominant manufacturing sector was permitted, and at times even encouraged, to wither away.” The only sympathy I have with most Brexiters is that they simply had no idea of what they were in for. Plainly, now, most people do, and rightly don’t like it

Neither of these policies is likely to make a significant difference in the lives of Trump’s voters, but that’s not really the point,” Illing writes. “By pandering to fears and resentments, Trump both deepens the prejudices and satisfies his base.” Anybody seeking to acquaint (or, indeed, re-acquaint) themselves with how the UK economy has fared over the course of the past fifty years could do no better than read this book. Adopting a straightforward narrative approach, the author focuses upon British economic performance with an especial emphasis upon policy making – and, importantly, what went right and what went wrong in this connection. Surely all very dry stuff, you might think. Yet this book is anything but. Rather, it is highly readable account which takes the reader on an enthralling journey through the (relatively) recent past. Why does it work? First of all, there are some ways the past really was better for Americans than it is now. In 1970, 90 percent of 30-year-olds in America were better off than their parents were at that age. In 2010, only 50 percent could make the same claim. Timothy Snyder, a historian at Yale and author of the book On Tyranny, points out that the president’s “Make America Great Again” nostalgia “is a tactic designed to distract voters from the absence of serious solutions.” Although President Trump may not be an authoritarian, this is something authoritarians typically do, Snyder says. “They need the public to be angry, resentful, and focused on problems that can’t be remedied.”Another helpful aspect of the overall approach is the artful integration of the economics and the politics – with electoral cycles clearly a major consideration for policy decisions throughout. Yet another is the emphasis not just upon aggregate demand developments but, also, upon supply-side developments (with Mrs Thatcher being accorded due credit for her achievements on this score). In particular I turned to fantasy. I read The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. The idea of children passing through a wardrobe into a strange and magical land seemed entirely plausible to me. I read the Middle-earth novels of JRR Tolkien. The importance (and intricate navigation) of clan, family, history, honour and formality, even as practised by hobbits or elves, must have been a useful education to this until recently California boy now finding his way in Pakistan. Now, although the economy is in a bad way, and affected by the consequences of Brexit at almost every turn – a dramatic rise in import prices is a direct consequence of Brexit, and explains why our inflation rate is stubbornly higher than that of our European neighbours – I do not for one moment wish to overdo the valley of death analogy. Nevertheless, it came to mind because there is something ineffably stubborn and crass about the refusal of our two major parties to recognise the scale of the disaster and conduct – or, in Labour’s case, advocate – an about-turn.

In the case of my Fiat, Proietti Brothers of Islington have had to wait three weeks: a relatively small, personal anecdote of the frustrations of Brexit. So why did a famous verse I learned at school come to mind? I’ll tell you why: because the worst government of most people’s lifetimes is ploughing on, pretending that it can make a success of a manifest disaster. And the Labour opposition refuses to challenge it on the biggest self-inflicted crisis of our time, tamely ruling out the obvious need to rejoin the single market and restore freedom of movement to businesses and citizens. Does a grandchild living half a world away offer a grandparent the same likelihood of experiencing a love that transcends the self as does a grandchild living next door? Does a religious discourse focused on conflicts with other religions, and indeed on conflicts among subgroupings within that religion, offer the same likelihood of solace in the face of the temporariness of existence? Does a tribe interbreeding with other tribes offer the same possibility of an eternal identity into which one’s individual identity can be subsumed? We are becoming unmoored just as the currents around us are growing swifter. In 1849 Thomas Carlyle described economics as ‘the dismal science’ and certainly it would be fair to describe Jones’ book as ‘downbeat’. Indeed, the subtitle of the book is Half a Century of British Economic Decline. That said, the author is very good at sharing his views of individuals and institutions in a few pithy words. In recent years the civil service has come in for criticism from the Tory party. In contrast, Jones credits the service with “remarkable fertility of imagination … [it] performed nothing short of miracles. Its accomplishments during the GFC and in the aftermath of Brexit, for example, were extraordinary”. PDF / EPUB File Name: The_Tyranny_of_Nostalgia_-_Russell_Jones.pdf, The_Tyranny_of_Nostalgia_-_Russell_Jones.epubIt is sometimes said that there is a trade-off between sovereignty and influence. By being a member of the EU, the UK pooled some of its sovereignty but magnified its European and global influence by sitting around the EU table. Jones writes: “Engagement with the EU had helped amplify Britain’s voice on the global stage. Brexit would muffle it, perhaps to the point of inaudibility.” Stories helped me unite parts of my existence that might otherwise have seemed irrevocably split by geography and time. And stories helped me find a future in which I, such a mongrel, could be comfortable. I do not inhabit an island in the Indian Ocean with a population as diverse as that of London, nor a nation composed of bits of Pakistan and California. But I have over the last three decades lived first in America, then in Britain, then in Pakistan. And I do spend many weeks in America and Britain each year, and many weeks in other places, and correspond on most days with friends and colleagues on multiple continents. My life might be peculiar, but it suits me. It flows directly from those first worlds I imagined as a child. Without my stories, without the journey and direction implicit in them, I might never have found it. Perhaps I would not even have looked. For at least half a century, British economic policy has been inept and capricious, with politicians of all parties labouring under the delusion that the country is still a major economic power. For much of that time Russell Jones has had a ringside seat observing their many mistakes and misfortunes. It is hard to read his clear-sighted and highly readable account and remain optimistic about the UK economy’s next 50 years.” This powerful and elegant account of the twists and turns in British macroeconomic policy should be essential reading for students and practitioners alike. Russell Jones's analysis of the past half a century of British economic life – and particularly of the run-up to Brexit and of its subsequent implementation and its disastrous consequences – is absolutely stunning. — William Keegan, senior economics commentator for The Observer Numbers like this cause people to lose faith in the system,” says Vox writer Sean Illing. “What you get is a spike in extremism and a retreat from the political center. That leads to declines in voter turnout and, consequently, more opportunities for fringe parties and candidates.”