Today illustrated very clearly why the monthly CFM survey of mainly academic, mostly macro UK economists was such a good idea. (And something that I should have included in this discussion.) I have often written that I thought austerity was only supported by a small minority of UK macroeconomists, but my evidence for this has been much thinner than I would like. Today CFM published their latest survey which asked: “Do you agree that the austerity policies of the coalition government have had a positive effect on aggregate economic activity (employment and GDP) in the UK?”
The response was clear: 15% agreed, 18% neither agreed nor disagreed, and 66% disagreed. As CFM reported: “Ignoring those who sat on the fence, 19% agree and 81% disagree with the proposition. This ratio is unaffected by confidence weighting.”
That was welcome confirmation of my prior, but what was much more important is that the survey came out on the same day as the Daily Telegraph published a letter from 100 business leaders saying exactly the opposite. To quote: “We believe this Conservative-led Government has been good for business and has pursued policies which have supported investment and job creation.” Now of course a letter (organised by whom?) is not a survey, and it is hardly news that Labour has policies that are unpopular with business leaders. Yet the letter was nevertheless the lead item on BBC news today.
However in at least some of the reports I heard that led on the letter ‘news’, the CFM survey was also mentioned. I myself participated in Radio 4’s World at One (about 11 minutes in) as a direct result of the survey. Robert Peston went as far as to ask: “Who to trust - business leaders or economists?” I liked the way he introduced his post:
“Neither business leaders nor economists have a monopoly of wisdom on what's good for Britain or are free from political bias. But it is perhaps therefore all the more important to remember that those paid to think about how best an economy should be run don't necessarily agree with those paid to run companies.”
He might have also added that, probably without exception, we are paid a lot less than business leaders, so the danger that our opinions might be influenced by Labour policies like reintroducing the 50p income tax rate or introducing a mansion tax is perhaps also smaller!
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