Growth, growth, growth. Some of these policies may have merit too, but in most cases, those merits are to be offset against likely negative effects on growth. All of which leads to the question: what is this government’s “theory of growth”? Gordon Brown famously endorsed “post-neoclassical endogenous growth theory”, supporting a greater role for government through investment in education, innovation and infrastructure. One does need to be intellectually open, different parts of the economy need different policies, and what matters is what works.
