LSE centre for economic performance – macroeconomics and public finance: the worst is yet to come

A new series of Election Analyses is now available from the LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance (CEP). The series will discuss the research evidence on some of the key policy battlegrounds of the 2010 General Election, including macroeconomic policy, immigration, health, education, crime, poverty and inequality, labour market policy, regional policy, energy and the environment, financial regulation and bankers’ bonuses, and foreign aid. The latest economic growth figures confirm that the UK economy is slowly recovering from the deep recession of 2008/09. But according to researchers, Tom Cunningham and Ethan Ilzetzki, at the CEP, the recovery will probably continue to be slow, and there is still no sign of a significant reversal in the current account deficits that the UK has run for the past two decades. These problems are likely to be compounded by large fiscal deficits and the medium-term challenge of public debt reduction.