Britain’s squid pro quo

Economic growth is hindered by the profusion of “negative sum” public sector jobs

FEW OF BRITAIN’S economic problems are more fundamental than the slide in the growth of productivity — output per person — in the last half century. In the 1960s productivity typically rose by more than three per cent a year, enabling output per head and hence living standards to double in little more than 20 years. But in the decade to 2019 productivity increased by only 0.9 per cent a year even before the ravages of Covid-19. If this were the best Britain could do, it would take over 75 years for output per head and living standards to double. Economists do not have good theories to explain a nation’s productivity. But an obvious point is that the more unproductive people there are, the lower is the average level of output per…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 2021

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