Sources on the British economy

This piece was written as a box for my recent Fund Strategy cover story but was not published for space reasons.

For those who want to follow the debate more closely here are some key readings.

2020 Tax Commission. “The Single Income Tax”. May 2012. Work supported by the Taxpayers’ Alliance and the Institute of Directors.

Bill Martin “Is the British economy supply constrained?: A critique of productivity pessimism.” July 2011. Unusual in looking at both the supply and demand side of the crisis.

Bill Martin and Robert Rowthorn. “Is the British economy constrained II? A renewed critique of productivity pessimism”. May 2012.

Tim Morgan. “Blowing the whistle on UK ‘austerity’”. Tullet Prebon research. May 14, 2012.  Argues that the government has failed to impose austerity on the public.

Nick Pearce “Lessons of history lost on ‘big cut’ proponents” Nick’s Blog Institute for Public Policy Research. May 21, 2012. . A reply to Tim Morgan’s piece cited above.

Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart This Time is Different 2009. This book is cited by Conservatives as showing that financial crises are usually caused by a build-up of debt.

There are also numerous official reports available from official British sources such as the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility and Treasury. The Institute for Fiscal Studies provides authoritative independent studies on taxation on spending. International organisations such as the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.