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The office for budget responsibility and the politics of technocratic economic governance /

This book is about the politics of economic ideas, and the inevitable yet hidden politics of technocratic economic governance, explored through a focus on the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)--the institution designed to oversee Britain's fiscal policy. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Clift, Ben (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2023]
Subjects:
Great Britain. > Office for Budget Responsibility.
Great Britain. > Office for Budget Responsibility
Fiscal policy > Great Britain.
Great Britain > Economic policy > 1997-
Great Britain > Foreign economic relations.
Politique fiscale > Grande-Bretagne.
Grande-Bretagne > Politique économique > 1997-
Comparative Politics.
POLITICAL SCIENCE.
International Relations.
Public Policy.
International economic relations
Economic policy
Fiscal policy
Great Britain
Economics.
Since 1997
Electronic books.
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Cover
  • Halftitle
  • Titlepage
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Acknowledgements
  • Contents
  • List of Figures
  • List of Tables
  • Abbreviations List
  • 1 Embattled Technocratic Governance: The Office for Budget Responsibility from the Crash to COVID
  • Introduction
  • The Politics of Technocratic Economic Governance
  • Why Studying the OBR Matters: A Window on the World of Technocratic Economic Governance
  • Technocratic Economic Governance and the Paradoxes of Neoliberal Democracy
  • Britain in Europe: National Sovereignty, Global Markets
  • British Capitalism and Brexit Tensions
  • Brexit's Atypical Politics of Economic Policy
  • Technocratic Economic Governance in the Era of Post-Truth Politics
  • The Structure of the Book
  • 2 UK Fiscal Politics and Macroeconomic Policy Rules Since the 1990s
  • Introduction
  • Expert Economic Oversight and Evolving Economic Orthodoxies
  • Perspectives on Technocratic Economic Governance
  • The Political Settlement on which Rules-Based Expert Economic Governance Rests
  • The Politics of Fiscal Rules
  • UK Fiscal Rules under New Labour and the Politics of Economic Rectitude
  • The Coalition Government 2010-2015 and the Politics of Austerity
  • Conclusion: The Politics of Technocratic Fiscal Governance
  • 3 The British Model of Capitalism and the Politics of Growth
  • Introduction
  • The Politics of Growth, Comparative Capitalisms, and the Role of the State
  • The British Model of Capitalism in Historical Perspective
  • The Anglo-Liberal Growth Model
  • Theorizing Economic Growth and Constructions of Economic Reason
  • Britain, the World Economy, and the Political Economy of UK Capitalism
  • Britain in Europe, Constructions of Free Trade, and Brexit
  • Conclusion: Constructions of Economic Reason and the Politics of Economic Expertise
  • 4 The OBR and the Politics of Technocratic Fiscal Governance.
  • Introduction
  • The Politics of Economic Ideas and Technocratic Fiscal Governance
  • The Tension between Technocratic Governance and Populist Politics
  • The Rationale Behind the OBR
  • OBR Effectiveness
  • The OBR in Comparative Context
  • The OBR's Structure and Functioning
  • The OBR's Independence
  • OBR Priorities: Transparency
  • Reflexivity
  • Fiscal Sustainability
  • The OBR and the Inherently Discretionary Politics of Technocratic Fiscal Governance
  • Technocratic Fiscal Governance in Practice: Rules and Discretion
  • Conclusion: The Politics Inherent in Technocratic Fiscal Governance
  • 5 The OBR, Fiscal Forecasting, and the Politics of Economic Method
  • Introduction: The Mask of Technocracy Slips
  • The Politics of Economic Method and Fiscal Forecasting
  • OBR Forecasting in Practice
  • What Lies Behind the Judgements? OBR's Default New Keynesianism
  • The OBR Model
  • Economic Models and the Principles of Political Economy
  • How The OBR Thinks about the Economy: Cyclical Fluctuation and `Shocks'
  • Re-evaluating Fiscal Policy: The OBR, Fiscal Multipliers, and Keynesian Insights
  • Economic Theory, Empirical Evidence, and OBR Modelling Assumptions
  • Conclusion: The Myth of Neutral Technocratic Truth
  • 6 Narrating the Economy: Constructing the Crash and Its Legacy
  • Introduction
  • Economic Expertise and Constructing the Economy: Stability, Equilibrium, and Crisis within Capitalism
  • Making Sense of the Economy: Using the Past as a Guide to the Future
  • Growth Forecasting, Constructions of Economic Reason, and Capitalism
  • Narrating Hard Times: The OBR and UK Growth Downgrades
  • Rethinking Britain's Economic Growth Trajectory: The Politics of Economic Method
  • The Equilibrium Rate of Unemployment and the Politics of Austerity
  • Secular Stagnation and the OBR's Evolving Economic Narrative.
  • The OBR and the Social Construction of Fiscal Space
  • Conclusion: Technocratic Economic Governance and the Politics of Economic Ideas
  • 7 The OBR and the Politics of Forecasting Brexit Effects
  • Introduction
  • Conceptions of Free Trade: `Market Contestation' and Brexit's Effects
  • Europe and the British Model of Capitalism: The Backdrop to Brexit Forecasts
  • Head above the Parapet: The OBR Pronounces on Brexit Effects
  • OBR Remit and Brexit Forecasting: The Holding Pattern
  • Uncertainty, Brexit Projections, and Technocratic Economic Governance
  • Managing Uncertainty: Forecasting Brexit Using Assumptions and Judgement
  • Managing Brexit Uncertainty through Models and the Politics of Economic Method
  • Epistemic Authority, Expert Economic Knowledge and Global Britain
  • Conclusion: Politicized Brexit Contestation, Divergent Free Trade Assumptions, and Technocratic Economic Oversight
  • 8 COVID Changes Everything: `Sound' Economic Policy and the Historical Contingency of Economic Knowledge
  • Introduction
  • Radical Uncertainty and the Limits of Economic Forecasting
  • Evolving OBR Thinking about the Economy's Evolution
  • New Normal, New OBR Forecasting Techniques?
  • What Is to Be Done?
  • COVID, Fiscal Policy, and the Politics of Economic Ideas
  • Fresh OBR Approaches to Gauging Fiscal Policy Effects
  • Fiscal Policy and COVID: The Political Economy of `Battlefield Medicine'
  • COVID's `Scarring' Effects and the Changing Politics of Post-COVID UK Fiscal Rectitude
  • The OBR, COVID, and Fiscal Space
  • Conclusion: Rethinking the Economy's Equilibrating Properties in a `New Normal'
  • 9 Conclusion: The OBR and the Politics of Technocratic Economic Governance in Hard Times
  • Introduction
  • Narrating the Economy: Constructing Sound Fiscal Policy
  • Britain, Europe, and the Paradox of Neoliberal Democracy.
  • Economic and Fiscal Orthodoxy as Contingent Historical Phenomenon
  • Political Contestation over Economic Ideas and the Politics of Economic Method
  • Fiscal Oversight at the Non-Normative End of the Spectrum?
  • The Enduring Appeal of Technocratic Economic Governance
  • Coda: Forecasting an Increasingly Uncertain, Unstable Non-linear Future-the Climate Crisis
  • Glossary
  • Bibliography
  • Index.