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Will Labour’s Economic Programme Work?
Author(s) -
Sentance Andrew
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
economic outlook
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1468-0319
pISSN - 0140-489X
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0319.00073
Subject(s) - unemployment , economics , inflation (cosmology) , work (physics) , government (linguistics) , labour economics , public spending , wage , public work , fiscal policy , economic policy , macroeconomics , political science , politics , public administration , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , physics , theoretical physics , law , engineering
If Labour is elected to government on 1 May, it will inherit the lowest inflation of any incoming government over the last fifty years but the highest unemployment. At the same time, public borrowing is running at an unsustainable high level. In this article, Andrew Sentance examines Labour’s plans to expand employment while reducing public borrowing and containing inflation. He argues that Labour’s economic programme could work but a number of pitfalls need to be avoided. Monetary policy will need to be tightened after the Election and the fiscal squeeze implied by Conservative spending plans maintained – if necessary through higher taxes. The benefits from Labour’s employment policies could also be undermined by a high minimum wage, particularly if applied to young workers.