Applying the Dismal Science

CHRISTOPHER ALLSOPP Fellow of New College, and Reader in Economic Policy, Oxford University, UKED BALLS MP for Normanton, UK since 2005 and formerly Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, 1997-2004SIR ALLAN BUDD Formerly Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, 1991-1997SIR CHRISTOPHER FOSTER Professor of Economics, and a Special Advisor on Transport and Local Government FinancePETER JAY Formerly Chief Economics Correspondent, The Times, UK Ambassador to the USA and Economics Editor, BBC, UKPAUL KLEMPERER Edgeworth Professor of Economics, Oxford University, UKMARK H. ROBSON Formerly Economic Adviser to the Board of Inland Revenue, 1985-90, Principal Administrator in the Fiscal Affairs Division of the OECD 1993-5, and Senior Manager at the Bank of England, UK, 1995-2003MARTIN WOLF Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times

• List of Figures and Tables Foreword; M.Wolf Preface Notes on Contributors Introduction: Public Finance, Public Choice and Political Economy; I.McLean & C.Jennings 1964-79; P.Jay Fiscal Policy in the United Kingdom; A.Budd The Use and Abuse of Economics and Social Science with Special Reference to Transport Policy; C.Foster New Labour and New Social Democracy; I.McLean Stability, Growth and Labour's Macroeconomic Policy; E.Balls Macroeconomic Policy: Theory and Institutional Practice; C.Allsopp The United Kingdom as Monetary and Fiscal Union; M.H.Robson Using and Abusing Economic Theory; P.Klemperer Conclusion; C.Jennings & I.McLean References Index

'That is the great strength of this book: it forces us to ask why we do economics, not from a purely abstract set of values, but rather from the perspective of those who have had to wrestle with these issues on a day-to-day basis.' - Roger Vickerman, Public Administration