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Technocratic economic governance and the politics of UK Fiscal rules
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Clift, Ben (2022) Technocratic economic governance and the politics of UK Fiscal rules. British Politics . doi:10.1057/s41293-022-00204-z ISSN 1746-918X. (In Press)
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-022-00204-z
Abstract
This exploration of UK fiscal rules and the establishment of an independent UK fiscal watchdog focuses on the practical enactment of rules-based fiscal policy to analyse the politics of technocratic economic governance. Analysing UK macroeconomic policy rules and their operation unearths numerous dimensions of the politics of technocratic fiscal policy-making. Firstly, policy rules are marshalled for partisan purposes. Secondly, a politics of economic ideas surrounds the invention, revision and interpretation of fiscal rules. Thirdly, technocratic economic governance entails a ‘politics of method’, selecting methodological approaches necessarily built on particular political economic assumptions. Finally, a ‘politics of numbers’ sees politicians cooking the books to present their economic record favourably against fiscal yardsticks. Successive governments have altered UK fiscal rules, informed by different political economic principles. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) see themselves as a technocratic and apolitical institution, yet their operational work entails contrasting accounts of the economy and policy. The scale of discretion and judgement inherent in operating fiscal rules is under-appreciated. This article finds technocratic economic governance to be a much more social and political process than many advocates of economic rules-based policy acknowledge. It engenders new forms of distinctive fiscal politics within elite statecraft and expert technocracy.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HF Commerce H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Fiscal policy -- Great Britain, Economic policy -- Political aspects | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | British Politics | ||||||
| Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1746-918X | ||||||
| Official Date: | 9 March 2022 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| DOI: | 10.1057/s41293-022-00204-z | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | In Press | ||||||
| Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | “This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41293-022-00204-z. Use of this Accepted Version is subject to the publisher’s Accepted Manuscript terms of use https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/acceptedmanuscript-terms”." | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 9 March 2022 | ||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 9 March 2023 | ||||||
| RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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