The expulsion of politics? What the UK’s Office of Budget Responsibility tells us about the limit...

When it comes to governing our economy, estimates rule the day. We want to know what effect a policy might have on the government’s budget, on economic growth, on employment…in the next 1 year, 5 years, 10 years…you get the idea. If you want to make (or critique) public policy, you better have numbers to back it up. 


To get those types of estimates, economists and politicians often rely on institutions like the Office for Budget Responsibility in the UK, or the Congressional Budget Office in the United States. As a result, their estimates and fiscal projections form crucial data points in our modern politics and policymaking. 


We like to think that these estimates and projections (not to mention, the people who make them) come from somewhere outside of our partisan politics. That while our values might be debatable, the numbers, at least, aren’t.


But, as Mark Blyth’s guest on this episode explains: that idea is a fantasy, and to the extent it obscures the values and politics that are baked into organizations like the Office of Budget Responsibility, it’s a dangerous one. 


On this episode, Mark Blyth talks with Ben Clift, author of “The Office for Budget Responsibility and the Politics of Technocratic Economic Governance.” In it, he pulls back the curtain on Britain's Office for Budget Responsibility, and reveals the hidden processes and ideologies that shape the estimates and projections that come out of it. In doing so, he shows how the OBR – and other institutions like it – are much more political than they appear. 


Learn more about and purchase “The Office for Budget Responsibility and the Politics of Technocratic Economic Governance (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-office-for-budget-responsibility-and-the-politics-of-technocratic-economic-governance-9780192871121) ”


Learn more about the Watson Institute’s other podcasts (https://home.watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts)


Transcript coming soon to our website Receive SMS online on sms24.me

TubeReader video aggregator is a website that collects and organizes online videos from the YouTube source. Video aggregation is done for different purposes, and TubeReader take different approaches to achieve their purpose.

Our try to collect videos of high quality or interest for visitors to view; the collection may be made by editors or may be based on community votes.

Another method is to base the collection on those videos most viewed, either at the aggregator site or at various popular video hosting sites.

TubeReader site exists to allow users to collect their own sets of videos, for personal use as well as for browsing and viewing by others; TubeReader can develop online communities around video sharing.

Our site allow users to create a personalized video playlist, for personal use as well as for browsing and viewing by others.

@YouTubeReaderBot allows you to subscribe to Youtube channels.

By using @YouTubeReaderBot Bot you agree with YouTube Terms of Service.

Use the @YouTubeReaderBot telegram bot to be the first to be notified when new videos are released on your favorite channels.

Look for new videos or channels and share them with your friends.

You can start using our bot from this video, subscribe now to The expulsion of politics? What the UK’s Office of Budget Responsibility tells us about the limit...

What is YouTube?

YouTube is a free video sharing website that makes it easy to watch online videos. You can even create and upload your own videos to share with others. Originally created in 2005, YouTube is now one of the most popular sites on the Web, with visitors watching around 6 billion hours of video every month.