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Robert Skidelsky

The Continuing Agony of Brexit

LONDON – So British Prime Minister Theresa May lives to fight another day. The Conservative Party in the House of Commons reaffirmed its confidence in her leadership by a far-from-resounding 200-117 vote. It is hard to think of another British prime minister whose leadership has been in such continuous crisis. Not so much an iron lady as a stubborn and dogged one, May has begun another round of effort to extract a few further concessions from European leaders to make her divorce...

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The Case for Compensated Free Trade

Almost all liberals support globalization and oppose economic nationalism. They ignore the mounting evidence that, in its current form, globalization is dangerously incompatible with democracy. In his 2011 book The Globalization Paradox, Harvard’s Dani Rodrik says that the nation-state, democracy, and globalization are mutually irreconcilable: we can have any two, but not all three simultaneously (he calls this a “trilemma”). All over the world, the “nation” has been revolting...

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Speech on the Autumn Statement 2018

My Lords, I welcome the general thrust of the Budget. As the OBR says, it represents the “largest fiscal loosening” since 2010. Noble Lords have suggested that the Chancellor is spending his windfall, but I mistrust the language of “windfalls”. Windfalls are only forecasts of revenue based on forecasts of growth; they are not there under the bed, so to speak, and should be given the credence they deserve—which is very little. Let us put that aside. We are not here to discuss the...

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The Brexit Endgame

LONDON – The United Kingdom’s “Remainers,” who still hope to reverse Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, have placarded British cities with a simple question: “Brexit – Is It Worth It?” Well, is it? The answer given by economics is clear: certainly not. In terms of the costs and benefits of leaving, the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum was plainly irrational. And yet economics also clearly shaped the decision. The Brexit propagandists brilliantly channeled palpable...

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Beyond Austerity: The Challenge Facing Labour

This essay, published in the New Statesman, is based on a lecture hosted on 19th September by the Progressive Economy Forum, of which Lord Skidelsky is a Council member.  Labour has always been set a higher standard on the economy than the Conservatives: it had to be more orthodox, more competent, more successful to win equal praise or escape equal blame. The reason is not hard to find: created and financed by the trade unions, and committed to the abolition of capitalism, the Labour...

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Robert Skidelsky – II Sesión del Ciclo "10 años de la caída de Lehman Brothers"

Sesión: La respuesta de las sociedades occidentales a la crisis. Descrédito de la política y populismo. ¿El capitalismo en riesgo? Posteriorment intervinieron: Antonio Argandoña, Emeritus Professor de Economía y Ética Empresarial, IESE, Sandra León, Senior Lecturer en el Departamento de Ciencias Políticas, Universidad de York y Josep Ramoneda, Filósofo y Periodista, moderados por Antoni Castells, Director, EuropeG.

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Robert Skidelsky – II Sesión del Ciclo “10 años de la caída de Lehman Brothers”

Sesión: La respuesta de las sociedades occidentales a la crisis. Descrédito de la política y populismo. ¿El capitalismo en riesgo? Posteriorment intervinieron: Antonio Argandoña, Emeritus Professor de Economía y Ética Empresarial, IESE, Sandra León, Senior Lecturer en el Departamento de Ciencias Políticas, Universidad de York y Josep Ramoneda, Filósofo y Periodista, moderados por Antoni Castells, Director, EuropeG.

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