Callum Towler writes:
Beckett’s post-election
autopsy pinned defeat, among other reasons, on Miliband’s failure
to challenge the myth that Labour caused the 2008 financial
crash.
Cameron has solidified the narrative in the public’s mind with his
repeated attacks on Labour’s financial credibility.
However, by giving
left-leaning intellectuals a platform in his series
of public talks, John McDonnell is opening up a completely new discourse
around economics and it is time to get excited.
Although bound by their
anti-austerity and pro-market beliefs, each economist is bringing their own
unique specialism to the table.
Mariana Mazzucato began the series last week, arguing for
state investment in innovation that made her book, The Entrepreneurial
State, such a compelling read.
Seeing the state as an impediment to
innovation is, in her view, pure ideology, especially when tech giants like
Apple relied so heavily on state money to get off the ground.
This isn’t
an attack on the private sector; Mazzucato believes it should work in
harmony with the state.
Where risks are high - for example, when investing in
climate solutions - state funding must fill in the gaps that the typically
cautious private sector leaves behind.
Otherwise we’ll never achieve our most
pressing collective goals.
In tomorrow’s talk, “Technology and the Future World of
Work”, Bria, Srnicek and Susskind will imagine the radical potential of
technology, liberating us from what David Graeber calls “bullshit jobs”.
Embracing automation and the internet of things (the interconnectivity between
the physical and virtual realms) as progress towards a more efficient society
will free us from long hours of unrewarding labour.
In March the debate turns to the pressing economics of
inequality.
Joseph Stiglitz is an unsurprising participant, ever since the
crash he’s been one of neoliberalism’s most outspoken critics, and yet this
still represents a major coup for McDonnell.
No one else in the lecture series,
or in Labour’s Economic Advisory Committee for that matter, boasts a CV that
includes Nobel Laureate and former chief economist for the World
Bank.
Where Thomas Piketty, author of Capital,
and fellow member of the advisory committee, sees inequality as inherent to
capitalism, Stiglitz believes it’s reversible through reform.
To him,
inequality isn’t just a moral blotch on our culture, it’s also bad news for our
collective growth.
If Labour used his clout to infuse that idea
with some much-needed respectability, voting selfishly could cease to make sense.
Of all the lectures, the last, “Framing the Economic
Narrative”, contains the lesson Labour needs to pay close attention to.
Simon
Wren-Lewis keenly observes the way economics and politics intersect.He views
austerity as a trap for the left “as long as they refuse to challenge it”.
The
thinking goes: if you accept that cuts should happen, it’s a position of
weakness to then argue over who's targeted.
Joining him is economic policy
advisor, Ann Pettifor, who understands better than most that progressive
economic ideas mean nothing without the credible politicians to enforce
them.
If Labour is to gain a firm grip
on the economy again, this series is a great start.
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