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The End of Politics by Chris Dillow
  • The End of Politics

  • New Labour and the folly of managerialism

  • by Chris Dillow
In stock, usually dispatched within 24 hours

    • Product code: 27025
    • ISBN: 1905641176, ISBN13: 9781905641178, 304 pages, hardback
      Published by Harriman House on 2007 , 1st
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    Read Chris Dillow's recent Times article - "We put up with terrible, inept government. Why?"

    Description of The End of Politics

    New Labour's distinctive idea is that equality and efficiency are partners, not enemies. This, the book argues, is an example of managerialist ideology - the belief that trade-offs between conflicting values can be managed away by clever policies, that management can replace politics.

    This is not true. New Labour's main economic policies - tax credits, the minimum wage, expanding higher education and promoting macroeconomic stability - have not removed the trade-off between equality and efficiency. However, the failure of managerialism is not merely a failure of particular
    policies. There are deeper flaws in it. It fails to recognize the multiple and conflicting meanings of the ideals of equality and efficiency. And it assumes that governments have knowledge and rationality that are in fact unattainable.

    The book is a plea to remove managerialism, and replace it with genuine politics. We should ditch the idea that a central elite can manage away social problems, and instead debate about conflicting ideals.

    Contents of The End of Politics

    1. New Labour and Managerialism
    What is New Labour? What is managerialism?

    2. A Trojan Horse
    Why globalization doesn't justify putting the "new" into New Labour

    3. The Problem of Profits
    How old Labour failed to reconcile equality and efficiency

    4. Making Work Pay
    The economics of tax credits

    5. The First Rule of Economics
    Do minimum wages cut poverty without destroying jobs?

    6. "The Best Economic Policy There Is"
    Will increased education increase equality and economic growth?

    7. "The Best Thing That Any Government Can Do"
    What is macroeconomic stability? Why is it good?

    8. A Free Lunch
    The strange benefits of central bank independence

    9. What's Wrong With New Labour?
    Equality, trade-offs, managerialism and virtues

    10. No Matter of Congratulation
    Why economic growth shouldn't be a policy target

    11. Some Defunct Philosopher
    The many meanings of efficiency

    12. A Wild Goose Chase
    Why is equality desirable? Why is it unattainable?

    13. The Rituals of Reason
    Why we all act irrationally

    14. The Idle Slave of the Passions
    Why rationality isn�t rational

    15. Conclusion

    Index

    About Chris Dillow

    Chris Dillow was educated at Oxford and Manchester Universities, and spent several years as an economist in the City, before becoming economics writer at the Investors Chronicle. He blogs at http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com

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