Blog
It’s time Europe stopped fetishising fiscal discipline
We should prioritise more important outcomes – like creating well-paid green jobs and lifting millions out of poverty

By
Frank van Lerven
23 June 2021

This piece was originally published in the Financial Times as a letter signed by 142 economists, read the letter here.Contrary to the argument set out by Wolfgang Schäuble (Opinion, June 3), we believe the social fabric of Europe cannot endure a return to ​“fiscal as usual” — the failed austerity policies of the past that transformed the 2008 financial shock into

Blog
Public debt — the untold story
Fetishizing public debt doesn’t give us the full picture on the economy and the role of government borrowing

By
Frank van Lerven
26 May 2021

Like the 2008 global financial crisis before it, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic an all too predictable phenomena has emerged. Whenever new public finance statistics come out, what follows, is: public debt fear mongering, false household analogies, and a flurry of commentary devoid of any semblance of literate macro-economic analysis. Of course, understanding public sector finances is

Blog
Road to Recovery
Decarbonising the Bank of England’s pandemic QE

By
Frank van Lerven
04 August 2020

Imagine, successfully side-stepping an oncoming car only to be hit by a massive lorry. That is what will happen if policymakers try to recover our economy from the coronavirus pandemic without simultaneously tackling environmental breakdown. We simply cannot afford to address one crisis whilst ignoring – if not worsening – the other.
This is why it is fundamental that the Bank of England’s (BoE) policies are aligned with the government’s environmental goals, not to mention consistent with its own