Slow growth does not have to be our ‘new normal’. Government needs to change the way it looks at the growth problem in the long term

Today the IMF cast doubt on the Chancellor’s deficit reduction programme and new figures suggested that manufacturing activity had all but ground to a half. The news from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) last week that the UK economy grew by only 0.2% in the second quarter of 2011 – down from 0.5% in the first quarter – also made for grim reading. Anna Valero and John Van Reenen argue that the government should reverse some of the spending cuts, change immigration policy, and invest in public infrastructure in order to rebalance the economy and restore growth.