IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/oxf/wpaper/49.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

New Labour`s Economic Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Glyn
  • Stewart Wood

Abstract

To what extent does the policy of Tony Blair`s government reflect the traditional aspirations of social democracy? In macroeconomic policy the emphasis has been on stability, an understandable response to recent UK economic history, but one which has left sterling dangerously overvalued for an extended period. The strongest policy emphasis has been on a battery of measures aimed at increasing the incentive to work. Paradoxically, for a government which has often treated redistribution as old-fashioned and inappropriate, the greatest impact of these measures has been to redistribute income towards low-income families which already have family members working. Effects on the labour supply appear to be modest, and a particular weakness has been the denial of a strong regional dimension to joblessness. The decision to stick with Conservative spending plans for the government`s first two years brought a squeeze on the public services, and even the rapid growth in health and education spending planned for the next few years is predicated on very slow growth in social security spending rather than increased taxation. Labour`s policies on training and on industrial relations imply greater responsibility for individuals and employers, rather than the state, and private sector solutions with regard to investment in and management of industry and services - even traditionally public services - are instinctively preferred.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Glyn & Stewart Wood, 2000. "New Labour`s Economic Policy," Economics Series Working Papers 49, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:49
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e4a4552b-9266-4710-a2b1-a02e7ae118f1
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward Balls, 1998. "Open Macroeconomics in an Open Economy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 45(2), pages 113-132, May.
    2. Ivan Turok & David Webster, 1998. "The New Deal," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 12(4), pages 309-328, February.
    3. White, Stuart, 2000. "Review Article: Social Rights and Social Contract—Political Theory and the New Welfare Politics," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 507-532, July.
    4. Webster, David, 2000. "The Geographical Concentration of Labour-Market Disadvantage," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 16(1), pages 114-128, Spring.
    5. Steve Bradley & Jim Taylor, 1996. "Human Capital Formation and Local Economic Performance," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 1-14.
    6. repec:bla:scotjp:v:45:y:1998:i:2:p:113-32 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Quintini, Glenda & Martin, John P. & Martin, Sébastien, 2007. "The Changing Nature of the School-to-Work Transition Process in OECD Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 2582, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Schulze-Cleven, Tobias, 2006. "The Politics of an Experimental Society: Creating Labor Market Flexibility in Europe," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt92x040tt, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alasdair Rae, 2012. "Spatial patterns of labour market deprivation in Scotland: Concentration, isolation and persistence," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(5-6), pages 593-609, August.
    2. Karl Widerquist, 2006. "Who Exploits Who?," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54(3), pages 444-464, October.
    3. Colin Lindsay & Ronald W. McQuaid, 2004. "Avoiding the ‘McJobs’," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 18(2), pages 297-319, June.
    4. Ulriksen, Marianne S. & Plagerson, Sophie, 2014. "Social Protection: Rethinking Rights and Duties," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 755-765.
    5. Donald Houston, 2005. "Employability, Skills Mismatch and Spatial Mismatch in Metropolitan Labour Markets," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(2), pages 221-243, February.
    6. Philippe Monfort & David de la Croix, 2000. "Education funding and regional convergence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(3), pages 403-424.
    7. Molly Scott Cato, 2001. "Inward Investment and Economic Regeneration: Listening to Workers in Rhondda-Cynon-Taff," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 16(3), pages 198-220, August.
    8. Gastón Reyes, 2023. "The All-Stakeholders-Considered Case for Corporate Beneficence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 37-55, November.
    9. Blackaby, David H. & Drinkwater, Stephen, 2004. "Migration and Labour Market Differences: The Case of Wales," IZA Discussion Papers 1275, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Robert Huggins & Hiro Izushi, 2013. "Knowledge-based Development in Leading Regions across the Globe: An Exploratory Analysis of the co-Evolution of Resources, Capabilities and Outputs," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(5), pages 1030-1048, April.
    11. Robert Huggins & Hiro Izushi, 2009. "Regional Benchmarking in a Global Context: Knowledge, Competitiveness, and Economic Development," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 23(4), pages 275-293, November.
    12. Kristinn Hermannsson, 2015. "Expenditure and Displacement effects of Students in the Periphery: Impact on the Scottish Highlands and Islands," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1601, European Regional Science Association.
    13. Jenkins, Andrew & Wolf, Alison, 2004. "Regional variations in adult learning and vocational training: evidence from NCDS and WERS 98," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19469, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Scott Baum & Anthea Bill & William Mitchell, 2008. "Labour Underutilisation in Metropolitan Labour Markets in Australia: Individual Characteristics, Personal Circumstances and Local Labour Markets," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(5-6), pages 1193-1216, May.
    15. Laverty, Louise & Harris, Rebecca, 2018. "Can conditional health policies be justified? A policy analysis of the new NHS dental contract reforms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 46-54.
    16. Duncan McVicar & Jan M. Podivinsky, 2009. "How Well Has The New Deal For Young People Worked In The Uk Regions?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(2), pages 167-195, May.
    17. Gillian R Smith, 1999. "Area-based Initiatives: The rationale and options for area targeting," CASE Papers 025, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    18. Ian Shuttleworth & Anne Green, 2011. "Spatial Mobility Intentions, the Labour Market and Incapacity Benefit Claimants," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(5), pages 911-927, April.
    19. Alessandra Casarico & Paola Profeta & Chiara Pronzato, 2012. "On the local labor market determinants of female university enrolment in European regions," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 278, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    20. Lida Fan, 2009. "Measuring Interprovincial Flows of Human Capital in China: 1995–2000," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 28(3), pages 367-387, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour; unemployment; household income;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Anne Pouliquen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfeixuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.