British Capitalism After the Crisis PDF
Preview British Capitalism After the Crisis
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE POLITICAL ECONOMY: SPERI RESEARCH & POLICY British Capitalism After the Crisis Scott Lavery Building a Sustainable Political Economy: SPERI Research & Policy Series Editors Colin Hay SPERI University of Sheffield Sheffield, UK Anthony Payne SPERI University of Sheffield Sheffield, UK The Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) is an inno- vation in higher education research and outreach. It brings together leading international researchers in the social sciences, policy makers, journalists and opinion formers to reassess and develop proposals in response to the political and economic issues posed by the current com- bination of financial crisis, shifting economic power and environmental threat. Building a Sustainable Political Economy: SPERI Research & Policy will serve as a key outlet for SPERI’s published work. Each title will summarise and disseminate to an academic and postgraduate stu- dent audience, as well as directly to policy-makers and journalists, key policy-oriented research findings designed to further the development of a more sustainable future for the national, regional and world econ- omy following the global financial crisis. It takes a holistic and interdis- ciplinary view of political economy in which the local, national, regional and global interact at all times and in complex ways. The SPERI research agenda, and hence the focus of the series, seeks to explore the core eco- nomic and political questions that require us to develop a new sustaina- ble model of political economy at all times and in complex ways. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14879 Scott Lavery British Capitalism After the Crisis Scott Lavery Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) University of Sheffield Sheffield, UK Building a Sustainable Political Economy: SPERI Research & Policy ISBN 978-3-030-04045-1 ISBN 978-3-030-04046-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04046-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018961182 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To my grandma, Helen Burnett A cknowledgements This book would not have been possible without the intellectual input and personal support of a great many people. The book began its life as a Ph.D. thesis. I would like to thank my Ph.D. supervisor and Co-Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), Colin Hay, for his invaluable engagement with my work. It was a great priv- ilege to be supervised by Colin, and I have benefited immeasurably from his generous support throughout the research and writing process. I would also like to thank my second supervisor, Jonathan Joseph, for his encouragement and for his many insightful thoughts on the pro- ject. I would also like to extend my warmest thanks to Tony Payne, the co-founder and former Co-Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). I was fortunate enough to receive funding for the Ph.D. from SPERI, and I am incredibly grateful to Tony and to SPERI for this opportunity. Other colleagues at SPERI also strongly merit a mention. During the first five years of SPERI’s life, I was fortunate enough to share my work- space with a fantastic group of people. Craig Berry, Martin Craig, Adam Barber, Hannah Lambie-Munford, Tom Hunt, Sarah Boswell and Laure Astill all deserve a special mention in this regard. Jeremy Green, a former colleague at SPERI, has become an intellectual collaborator and good friend over the course of writing the thesis and this book. It has also been a pleasure to work alongside other colleagues—notably SPERI’s new Co-Directors Genevieve le Baron and Adam Leaver—as well as Andrew Baker, Liam Stanley, Kaisa Pietila, Patrick Kaczmarczyk, Edward vii viii ACKNOwLEDGEMENTS Pemberton and many others within the SPERI office over the past few years. All these people make the institute a brilliant and highly collegial place to pursue research. Andrew Gamble and Matthew watson examined the original Ph.D. thesis and provided erudite feedback which helped me to transform the thesis into a book. I thank them both for their intellectual engagement and for the professional support which they provided me with through- out the early stages of my academic career. During my time at the University of York, it was my MA supervisor, Chris Rogers, who encour- aged me to consider embarking upon a Ph.D. I would like to thank him for his support and advice during this period. The Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield has also been an excellent place to study and to develop both intellectually and professionally. Thanks to the aca- demic and administrative staff who make the Department such a good place to work. Matt Bishop, Owen Parker, Burak Tansel, Simon Bulmer and Andy Hindmoor all merit a special mention, alongside colleagues at SPERI who I mentioned above. Each has provided invaluable feedback on my work at various stages for which I am hugely grateful. I also made a number of very good friends within the Ph.D. community at Sheffield who helped to shape my thinking in important ways. In particular, the neo-Gramscian reading group was a source of great inspiration and enjoyment for me. Davide Schmid, James Chamberlain, Robbie Pye, Sam Morecroft, Vanessa Bilancetti, Rasmus Hovedskov and Jonathan webb have all engaged in this group in a highly collaborative spirit. I couldn’t hope for a better partner than Stephanie wardle who has been a source of incredible support, companionship and love over the past few years. Finally I thank my family—Fiona, Colin, Gavin, Gillian and Helen—for all the love and encouragement they have given to me over the years. without them, this book would not have been possible. I dedicate this book to my grandma, Helen Burnett. c ontents 1 Introduction 1 2 British Capitalism Before the Crisis 15 3 Theorising Capitalist Stability 51 4 New Labour’s ‘Hybrid’ Political Economy 79 5 The Coalition’s Accumulation Strategy 109 6 The Coalition’s ‘Two Nations’ Hegemonic Project 153 7 After the Coalition: Towards a Transformation or Consolidation of British Capitalism? 183 8 Conclusion 217 Index 227 ix l f ist of igures Fig. 2.1 UK real wage growth (1979–2013) (Source Office for national statistics [ONS, 2014]. Average weekly earnings deflated by RPI, percent change on the same quarter a year ago. Each interval point refers to Q1 of each year) 23 Fig. 5.1 Projected v. Actual Deficit Reduction (Source Adapted from: Van Reenen, 2015: 3) 127 Fig. 5.2 Regional House Prices, 2008–2015 (Source Nationwide House Price Index) 134 Fig. 5.3 Net Loan Acquisitions 2007–2015 (Source Office for National Statistics. National Accounts) 137 Fig. 5.4 Savings ratio 2001–2014 (Source Office for National Statistics. National Accounts) 138 xi
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