For the record, I am not a guru, even if the Times says I am.
Nor am I the creator of Corbynomics, even if the Times also says that, although I am undoubtedly responsible for some parts of it that have caught public attention.
And I am grateful to Jeremy Corbyn for the use he has made of those ideas. But I am not a formal member of his team.
I should add in that case that I am also grateful to Chris Leslie for creating the term Corbynomics and for shooting it to prominence this week, even if I suspect he's about as annoyed at his own doing so as Liam Byrne was about 'that' joke.
A week ago I did not know the term.
A week is a long time in economics.
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Chris Leslie was a spokesperson for a conventional political wisdom, which was once based upon a sound economic wisdom but is becoming increasingly outdated.
Richard is a spokesperson for a new economic wisdom which, if successful, could become part of a new, conventional political wisdom.
Good politics needs to be combined with good economics. Is Jeremy Corbyn the person to do it? Time, and ultimately the electorate, will tell.
You may be giving Leslie undeserved credit for the creation of the term, although he did help make it more prominent. Leslie’s Independent interview went online on 2 August. A quick Google reveals that Corbynomics was used in an IBT headline on the 22 July with a hyphen and in a headline on The Conversation without a hyphen on 24 July.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/corbyn-omics-labour-left-frontrunner-wants-10-minimum-wage-abolition-business-tax-subsidies-1512070
http://theconversation.com/corbynomics-a-blend-of-economic-reason-and-political-fantasy-45181
A few more results also come up after these two and before Leslie’s interview, including one in The Telegraph. Although I suppose it could have been created a number of times by various people, including Leslie, on separate occasions. It’s also not actually clear if it was Leslie or The Independent who use the term in the interview. Its single use comes in the opening paragraph, and it wasn’t in a Leslie quote (although I don’t know if he used it on the Today programme during his interview on the same day):
“Chris Leslie, the shadow Chancellor, has launched a scathing attack on “Corbynomics”, the anti-austerity agenda of the Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn, warning it would hurt poor people the most.” (Of course in Journo land people never just launch attacks, they only launch scathing attacks)
Thanks
Probably you know about it, but the BofE blog, Bank Underground has had some fascinating posts this week, including a couple on the mortgage market. All is not as it seems in Economics these days. I am coming to the view that the pace of things means that a week is indeed a long time in economics.