I have published this video this morning. In it I argue that economics always seems to be written from the perspective of the City of London. Even Labour now seems to only exist to serve its interests. But what would economics look like if it was written from beyond the City's walls?
The Mile End Road runs from the City to the East End of London – the traditional home of its new migrant populations. And at its destination is the place where the Peasants' Revolt ended in 1381.
Its history and its location is precisely why Danny Blanchflower and I call ourselves the Mile End Road economists – creating a perspective on economics that few in the profession dare promote.
The audio version of this video is here:
The transcript is:
What's the view from the Mile End Road?
That is something that Professor Danny Blanchflower, now of Dartmouth College in the USA, but who was for a long time based here in the UK, and who is British, and who was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England from 2006 to 2009, and I are asking.
Why are we talking about the Mile End Road? Partly because that's where Danny did his PhD, because he was at Queen Mary, University of London at the time, and that is based on the Mile End Road.
But perhaps much more poignantly, the Mile End Road is the road out of the City of London towards the East End.
And at the far end of it, one mile out, unsurprisingly, was the place where the Peasants Revolt ended in the 14th century. They were put down, but the point was that in the Mile End Road people came together to discuss the alternatives to the position put forward by the City.
And that's precisely what Danny and I are seeking to do by calling ourselves the Mile End Road Economists. We are taking the view from outside the City wall.
Most people engaged in economics take the view from inside the City wall, and one of the things that both Danny and I have been shocked about is how few economists are willing to put their heads above the parapet and say there is something wrong with that view that comes from within the City of London, and which is replicated in the UK Treasury, which is dedicated, as we all know, to the economics of austerity.
We are not. We believe that what is being done by Rachel Reeves since she became Chancellor in July is deeply dangerous for the people of this country.
It looks as if she is heading to deliver Austerity 2.0, the first version having been delivered 2010. That will be her prescription when she goes to the dispatch box in October to deliver her first budget. And we think she's making a fundamental mistake.
We believe that the people of the UK are desperate for economic reform. Labour promised change in its manifesto, but it has given no indication that it's going to deliver it, at all. Instead, it has promised us pain.
Danny does a great deal of work about the relationship between happiness and economics. He shows that people understand what pain is, can anticipate it, and as a consequence, are very able to assess the true state of our economy.
The true state of our economy is that we're going to be in deep trouble. Danny and I think that somebody has to stand up and oppose what Rachel Reeves is doing, loudly and clearly and in a way that the media will notice.
Danny has a high profile, higher profile than I do, almost certainly. But I have a useful profile because of the work that I do on this YouTube channel, on my blog, on TikTok and elsewhere. Together, bringing our different approaches to academic research and publication and our combined experience of politics and our wish to make the world a better place, we will be making a lot of noise.
The whole point of that noise will be to challenge what Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer will be doing.
The view from the Mile End Road is, in our opinion, that these two are already failing.
The view from the Mile End Road is that, in our opinion, they need not do so.
We will focus on practical solutions.
We will create the agendas that people can put forward to suggest there are alternatives to austerity and the desperate concentration of economic power that Labour appear to be proposing for the City of London and large corporations.
We will be presenting an alternative economic narrative.
That is why the view from the Mile End Road matters, because this is the economics of the people of the UK.
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Long Live the Mile End Road Economists!
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
Stick it up ’em!
“Sing John Ball and tell it to them all
And long live the day that is dawning”
Good news. A pity the BBC does not have a wider range of economists on its programmes. R4 seems to think that Paul Johnson is the only person who knows about economics – he has opinions as do we all! They also need to stop allowing David Willetts on. He is a conservative who helped to impose austerity, made life harder for many including younger workers, I think he has a good income, and now thinks that cutting the winter fuel allowance is fine.
“challenge what Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer will be doing” yes, agree.
Furthermore, it would be nice if Reeves was challenged on the nonsense she spouts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUdnWX2IoCE
she wasn’t challenged in the least during the “interview” (a short commercial break on behalf of LINO?) – just allowed a monologue of reality-free assertions.
On a related note, & apologies for slightly off topic: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/31/keir-starmer-perks-disconcerting-cash-strapped-britain
It has been clear for some time (years?) that LINO is as corrupt as the tories. The Jones article produces facts that show that the former head of public prosecutions is a leader of the pack for “freebies” (which are anything but). Nasty piece of work, nasty party.
We certainly need to break the groupthink that dominates so much of orthodox economics. It reminds me of dogmatic medieval theologians debating the number of angels that may fit on the head of a pin.
On a historical note, did the Peasants Revolt end at Mile End? Certainly the young Richard II met the crowd there and agreed some concessions, but I’d suggest it was perhaps only the beginning of the end, or even the end of the beginning. The killing of Wat Tyler at Smithfield a couple of days later marked a clear turning point, but there was conflict for several more weeks, including a pitched battle in Norfolk with several thousand on each side.
Debatable, I agree
Two articles in the Guardian today in reference to the Grenfell Tower disaster and the water companies reveal the the country’s in a deep mess with the primary drivers being greed, incompetence and indifference to others and the planet. The country is badly in need of a revamp of its morals and obviously we aren’t going to see that happening with the current Single Transferable Party in office which kowtows to the interests of people of the above description.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/31/grenfell-survivors-expect-inquirys-final-report-to-end-carousel-of-blame
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/31/water-companies-natural-england-sites-special-scientific-interest
Full marks to Richard and Danny for making the effort to change this situation!
Gary Stevenson gave a powerful talk about his experience of the East End/City divide – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jwCLwi_N70 .
More power to your elbow!
[…] have mentioned in another blog the work Danny Blanchflower and I are proposing to do […]
The leader of the peasants, Wat Tyler, was killed by Sir William Walworth, Mayor of London.
For quite a while, until recently, the Labour party had its HQ at Walworth road. The uncharitable might make something of that.
The Peasant’s Revolt was caused by the exploitation of the workers and by the imposition of a regressive poll tax — the initial uprising was sparked by refusal to surrender taxes owed.
Fair taxation is important.
The comic absurdity of the banal Labour economic policy may be summarised in a single paragraph. Growth is the only way forward, according to Labour. We had fourteen years of Austerity1.0 – and no growth. Fourteen years of Conservative led, Market led, private sector driven economics – and no growth. We had much of the last fourteen years, with interest rates at the lower bound c.0% – and no growth: so we know exactly what Austerity2.0, high interest rates and more pain will produce – no growth and the total failure of Labour; politically and economically. What they need to do is rewrite the fiscal rules, and invest. Or they are finished, and rightly so. All they are doing is rehabilitating the Conservative opposition. Meanwhile, the Right is framing Boris Johnson’s government as socialist. That is how you fix the unfixable.
Would not meaningful decentralisation and moving the Treasury, whole government departments and even the Bank of England out of London to other parts of the country give these people a different worldview?
Imagine if the entire Treasury were moved to its “outpost” in Darlington, and the Department for Transport moved to perhaps Liverpool or Bradford, and the people who work in these places see at first hand life outside their cosseted City environment, is it not possible that we might see better policies?
Years ago, when Philip Hammond was chancellor, they were discussing the proposed HS3 high-speed rail line across the north (more than a decade on it’s still on the drawing board), and they had a map of the north of England spread out on a table. One leading mandarin asked what the large “brown area” between Manchester and Leeds was (the Pennines of course). This is the level of ignorance you’re having to deal with in folk who have never ventured outside the south-east and I’m sure there are many people like him.
It might make coordinated government harder, but do we have it now?
Do we have government at all now; because the Single Transferable Party looks suspiciously as if it’s prime intention is the complete dismantlement of government?
So, it’s our job to fight for democratic government now
Mile End Economic policy is much needed as a counterweight to current narratives. I see spirit level 15 years on gas just come out. Will you address that?
Give us time….the immediate plan is a book
David Byrne asks:
How is it possible to claim that a PPE degree from Oxford University is the gold standard, which automatically entitles the holder to a seat at the top table of government, commerce and the media. The holders of such paper must have superhuman qualities to be able to achieve the academic status of political theoretician, philosopher and economist in just 90 weeks. Or is entry to the degree course governed by the assay marks on the applicant’s silver spoon, plus a specified number of cornflake packet tops?
God help the UK!
Excellent questions …..
I am delighted to read of the different perspectves from the Mile End Road and I so hope that the dreadful internal Labour Party policies can be made to change.
I have followed the MMT discussions and understand some of what is said, thanks to your blog.
It does concern me though that foreign trade and balance of payments does not seem to be given sufficient weight – or even mentioned. How is it that the £ value is not worse?
It is well known that UK has to import food and energy (and practically every manufactured item from China) and UK’s manufacturing exports are tiny. Printing money and taxing it back is fine internally – but what needs doing for proper balance? City Services are sufficient – despite being quasi-illegal? Are they not extremely fragile? Is it not a house of cards of which the treasury is very well aware?
I will try to do some stuff on this
But not today….