October 5th, 2016
Ann Pettifor spoke on a Bloomberg TV panel with Gerard Lyons, Ambassador Paquale Terracciano and host Francine Lacqua on The Pulse. The U.K. services industry recorded a decent expansion in the first month after Brexit, all but scrubbing the chances of the U.K. economy contracting in the third quarter. The data make it more likely that that Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will refrain fromeasing further this year, although policy makers will want to see the services PMI for September, released next week, before drawing any conclusions.
Watch the full discussion here.
October 5th, 2016
Ann Pettifor recently travelled to New Zealand at the invitation of Professor Ian Shirley of The Policy Observatory and Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack at Auckland University of Technology, and also Mike Smith of the New Zealand Fabian Society. She spent 10 days delivering public lectures on economics in Wellington and Auckland.
In one of her media interviews Ann spoke to the formidable and highly regarded Kathryn Ryan, host of Nine to Noon on Radio NZ about the current state of New Zealand’s bubbling economy and mainstream economics. Ann argued that increasingly we are transforming our economies into rent-seeking centres that rely on offshore and mobile finance. Listen to the full programme here.
In another interview Ann spoke to Paul Henry of the daily TV show Newshub about how central banks, including New Zealand’s Reserve Bank, are ‘sitting on their hands’ while their economies blow up asset bubbles that are unsustainable. Watch her give a ‘report card’ on the current global financial situation here.
Ann also addressed the Fabian society on the Green New Deal. Thanks to the Fabian Society the full video and presentation can be found here.
On her final day in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city (‘the coolest little capital in the world’), Ann addressed a packed meeting at the New Zealand Treasury on the global implications of the production of money by commercial bankers.
July 20th, 2016
Ann Pettifor discussed how Phillip Hammond’s stint at the treasury will differ to Osbornes on Share Radio yesterday, with their regular economics commentator John Weeks.
Listen to the full show here.
July 13th, 2016
On the 1st July Ann Pettifor spoke at the FT’s Festival of Finance. Ann gave a presentation on ‘The New Nationalism: the money story’ and discussed nationalism, and Polanyi’s Double Movement. She was joined by a panel made up of Frances Coppola, Tyler Cowen, and Srinivas Thiruvadanthai. The discussion was moderated by John Authers.
The full podcast is available on FT Alphaville.
June 29th, 2016
In September 2015, we were pleased to accept the invitation to serve on an Economic Advisory Council (EAC). We felt strongly that it represented an opportunity to develop a vision of a progressive economic policy for Britain that departed from the destructive austerity narrative. Our collective view is that the EAC, and its various policy review groups, has indeed had a positive influence on the development of Labour’s economic policy, and we hope it continues whatever the result of current divisions.
We have always seen this body as providing advice to the Labour party as a whole, and not as an endorsement of particular individuals within it. For example we all share the view that the EU referendum result is a major disaster for the UK, and we have felt unhappy that the Labour leadership has not campaigned more strongly to avoid this outcome. We believe it is now crucial to find a way to resolve the economic and political impasse with the EU in a way that brings the least damage possible to the UK economy and those of our neighbours. We will be honoured to advise the Labour Party in the future, should our advice be sought once the current situation is resolved.
Diane Elson
Mariana Mazzucato
Anastasia Nesvetailova
Ann Pettifor
Simon Wren-Lewis
June 7th, 2016
I fluffed my lines on a recent BBC Newsnight segment on Uber. As the discussion was wrapping up, I warned that the uberisation of the economy – the ambition to corral the entire cash flow of whole sectors of the global economy into the pockets of a few – is utopian.
Continue reading… ›
June 4th, 2016
Mohammed Ali – ‘The Greatest’ – died today, at the age of 74. With his loss, the world is deprived of the terrific energy of a principled, devout and committed man. A boxer, a philosopher and a poet. But for those of us who worked hard to achieve the cancellation of about $100 billion of debt for thirty five of the poorest countries, Ali occupies a special place in our hearts. This great man, celebrated around the world, took time out to join us in London in 1999, and to give his backing to our campaign.
Continue reading… ›
April 29th, 2016
Back in 1975 I did not just oppose membership of the EU, I actively campaigned against it. In the 1990s I strongly opposed Britain’s membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). My opposition to the Labour leadership’s support for ERM helped ensure that I did not get chosen as Parliamentary candidate at the time. I won a modest 6 votes at a General Committee Meeting that in 1991 selected the next MP for Dulwich and West Norwood! (While I was to be vindicated by Britain’s eviction from the ERM in September 1992 that was no comfort as Labour, having backed the ERM, was unable to capitalize on the huge political damage caused to the Conservatives by the Black Wednesday fiasco.)
Finally, I am firmly opposed to the way in which European Treaties (signed by Labour as well as Conservative governments) have embedded market fundamentalist economic policies into quasi-constitutional law. No doubt this is because the authorities are aware that policies for austerity, privatisation and the financialisation of European economies would be fiercely resisted by the people of Europe, and so had to be buried like concrete, in Treaties.
So why then, am I voting to Remain? The reasons are threefold, and are essentially political rather than economic reasons (Please ignore George Osborne’s “facts” from the UK Treasury. That institution’s forecasting record is abysmal. According to the outgoing Permanent Secretary, Sir Nicholas McPherson, they made the “monumental collective intellectual error” of failing to forecast the biggest ever financial crisis facing Britain.)
Continue reading… ›
April 8th, 2016
On Thursday 7th April Ann Pettifor took part in one of John McDonnell’s road shows with Professor Simon Wren Lewis. The events are aimed at broadening the debate around economics in Britain. Ann discussed The case for the Green New Deal, and her powerpoint presentation is attached below.
Framing the Economic Narrative
March 18th, 2016
From the March 2016 Preface to The Economic Consequences of Mr Osborne
By Ann Pettifor, Professor Victoria Chick and Geoff Tily
… when sustained, fiscal consolidation increases rather than reduces the public debt ratio and is in general associated with adverse macroeconomic conditions. ‘Economic Consequences of Mr Osborne’, June 2010
Having missed the genuine threat of the private debt bubble, the economics profession misread disastrously the increase in public debt. In their 2009 This Time is Different, Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart discreetly warned:
However, the surge in government debt following a crisis is an important factor to weigh when considering how far governments should be willing to go to offset the adverse consequences of the crisis on economic activity. (290)
Continue reading… ›
|
In the September 2003 edition of openDemocracy I wrote:
Click here to read the full story in openDemocracy
BOOKS:
|
