Index
Topics
Eight running arguments. We do not pretend they are independent of each other. Housing is fiscal policy. Inactivity is health policy. Energy is monetary policy whether the MPC likes the reminder or not.
Monetary policy
Bank Rate, the MPC, inflation targeting and what Threadneedle Street can and cannot look through.
Public finances
Tax, spending, gilt issuance, fiscal rules and the cost of rolling over a large debt stock.
Housing
Planning, land, house prices as wealth and as a constraint on mobility, fertility and the tax base.
Labour market
Employment, unemployment, inactivity, vacancies and the health system as a supply-side institution.
Productivity
Output per hour, measurement fights between surveys and tax data, and the long hole since 2008.
Energy and prices
Wholesale gas, petrol, food pass-through and the difference between a relative-price shock and a domestic overheating.
Trade
Goods borders, services exports, the EU relationship and the UK’s terms of trade.
Scotland
The fiscal framework, Barnett, devolved tax and the view from Ayrshire rather than from SW1.