Fiscal Policy Special

Economics In Ten

When it comes to influencing the macroeconomy, governments have two big levers at their disposal - monetary policy and fiscal policy. In this new special by Pete and Gav, your friendly neighbourhood economists, we delve into the second of these, fiscal policy. As always we discuss 10 key questions, which will hopefully give the listener a good overview of what fiscal policy is and provide some insight into some of the key debates surrounding how it is used (and abused). Along the way, you will come across a quiz about fiscal policy including questions about the Chancellor's famous ‘red box’ and other historical minutiae about the UK Treasury. As always you will come away confidently armed with the economic terminology needed to bust through the jargon and engage more fully in economic debate (this is as close as we get to a mission...). We even finish triumphantly with a poem about Fiscal Policy that is even worse than our Monetary Policy one! Technical support as always comes from Nic. Enjoy.

PS The well-worn maxim that a "week is a long time in politics" has perhaps never been more appropriate when looking at UK politics so please forgive the references to the short-lived Truss/Kwarteng partnership that now seems like a distant memory...

PPS When Gav refers to John Lanchester's book 'Whoops!' he meant to refer to 'How to Speak Money' although both are excellent recommended reads!