The Tricky Economics of Creating a Better Quality of Life
Listener 26 January, 2002.
Keywords History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy
The life expectancy of someone living in Western Europe or North America was about 45 years in 1900. Today it is closer to 80 years. The increased longevity reduces the material standard of living (measured by GDP* or consumption per capita), since people are now retiring for far longer. Is the increased life expectancy a good thing? If we were to execute everyone over 65 years of age, we would raise the GDP per capita figure by about the same as the increase since 1981. Why dont we?
The following is a sequence of letters in “The Independent” in early 2002. I have not got the letters being criticised, but the readers should be able to infer much of what was in them. I have tried to bring my text in line with “The Independent’s” (sensitive) subbing.
Keywords: Social Policy; Growth & Innovation;
Listener 12 January, 2002.
Keywords Growth & Innovation; Macroeconomics & Money; Social Policy
A government needs a policy framework to coordinate its various decisions, and give it, its supporters and commentators a sense where it is going. The Labour-Alliance government has not announced one. If it did, what would it look like?
Music in the Air Summer 2002, p.13-14.
Keywords Literature; Political Economy & History.
I loved singing ‘Jerusalem’ in the full voice of my school assembly – especially the militancy and optimism of the last two verses – so much so that on the day I left I asked that it be sung for a last time.
