Should Experts Set The Fiscal Rules?

UCL Uncovering Politics

We’re back from our Easter break, and since we were last on the airwaves a book has been published by a certain former UK Prime Minister arguing – among other things – that elected politicians are unduly constrained by unelected technocrats, and that ministers should be freed from such fetters in order to enable them better to represent the will of the people. Not least, the book argues for scrapping the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility, which currently offers advice on the likely implications of different fiscal policy decisions.

Well Liz Truss is – for better or worse – not our guest on today’s podcast. But the person who is has thought a great deal about how – and by whom – fiscal rules should be set.

That person is Stefano Merlo, Associate Lecturer in the Politics of Economic Policy here in the UCL Department of Political Science. Stefano is also currently finishing off a PhD in Political Economy and Political Theory at John Stuart Mill College in the Free University of Amsterdam.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Stefano Merlo. 'A Republican Assessment of Independent Fiscal Institutions.' Journal of Politics
• Stefano Merlo. 'A republican fiscal constitution for the EMU.' Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy

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