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What is Corbynomics?
When Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Labour Party leader in September 2015, it was widely seen as marking a sea change in British politics and a return to socialist policies.
Almost four years on, what is the Labour Party’s economic policy today? While the party’s manifesto proclaims that it is ‘For the many, not the few’, how is this reflected in the details? On the one hand, Labour’s policies are more explicitly interventionist than in the past, promising to borrow money for investment for skills and infrastructure while taking some elements of the economy back into state control. On the other hand, the manifesto talks about ‘balancing the books’ and ‘sound finances’.
Is Labour as radical as many assume? Will borrowing to invest lead really lead to greater prosperity or will it simply make UK state finances even more parlous than they are now? Does Labour offer a genuine alternative?
SPEAKER(S)
Rob Lyons
science and technology director, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Economy Forum
READINGS
What is Corbynism, Independent, 27 September 2018
Creating an economy that works for all, Labour Party manifesto 2017
Modern Monetary Theory isn’t helping, Doug Henwood, Jacobin, 21 February 2019
Corbynomics: where next?, James Meadway, Medium, September 2015
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