LETTER TO THE FT: CORBYN’S ECONOMIC POLICIES ARE SENSIBLE

Posted on Piera by John Weeks on Aug 18th 2015,

The Financial Times:

The recent statement from Jeremy Corbyn that “austerity is a policy choice not economic necessity” provides a welcome return to serious discussion in the Labour leadership debate. Therefore, the assertions that Corbyn is a “danger” who is causing harm to the Labour Party and the public in general is quite surprising and inappropriate (for example, see FT View 15 August, that Mr Corbyn’s candidacy brings “potential harm to…British public life”).
Many of Corbyn’s policies are advocated by prominent economists and commentators. An example is his proposal to fund public investment by the sale of bonds to the Bank of England. Yet, until now, politicians competing to hold the centre ground have largely ignored such policies or cast them as unthinkable.
Corbyn’s proposals should be welcomed even by his opponents for stimulating serious discussion of crucial issues such as the role of the public sector in investment, management of debt and money, and how to tackle inequality. It is to Corbyn’s credit that he has broadened the policy discussion so that the shared assumptions behind the narrow range of policies advocated by both the Conservative government and the other Labour leadership candidates are now being debated.
Signed by the following teachers and researchers in economics:

• Victoria Chick, University College London
• Susan Himmelweit, Open University
• Malcolm Sawyer, University of Leeds
• Annina Kaltenbrunner, University of Leeds
• Gary Dymski, University of Leeds
• Ruth Pearson, University of Leeds
• Hugo Radice, University of Leeds
• Ann Pettifor, Prime Economics
• Jeremy Smith, Prime Economics
• Steve Keen, Kingston University
• Eva Karwowski, Kingston University
• Engelbert Stockhammer, Kingston University
• Alfredo Saad, SOAS
• Guy Standing SOAS
• John Weeks, SOAS
• Carlos Oya, SOAS
• George Irvin, SOAS
• Ioana Negru, SOAS
• Chris Cramer, SOAS
• Jo Michell, University of the West of England
• Susan Newman, University of the West of England
• Daniela Gabor, University of the West of England
• Andrew Mearman, University of the West of England
• Ozlem Onaran, University of Greenwich
• Jeff Powell, University of Greenwich
• Mehmet Ugur, University of Greenwich
• Giovanni Cozzi, University of Greenwich
• Maria Nikolaidi, University of Greenwich
• Simon Mohun, Queen Mary University
• Neil Lancastle, DeMontfort University
• James Meadway, City University
• John Grahl, Middlesex University
• Rhys Jenkins, University of East Anglia