Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, January 11, 2010

Political consequences of economic change

In the USA, the rule of thumb is that negative economic events impact the government in power negatively. Here's part of the reason the Labour government in the UK is in trouble.

UK standard of living drops below 2005 level
The recession has pushed living standards in Britain to below the 2005 general election level, a leading think tank says as it warns that the country faces a "new age of austerity".

Although many economists think the economy probably returned to growth in the quarter just ending, the deepest recession in decades has punished everyone, according to a report by Oxford Economics...


The recession has foiled Gordon Brown's claims to have ended 'Tory boom and bust' according to think tank Oxford Economics.
Oxford Economics says that gross domestic product per person has fallen to £22,700 on average in 2009, down from £23,000 in 2005 after adjusting for inflation – a fall of 1.3%. In Labour's first two terms GDP per head grew 12.6% and 8.3% respectively...

In 2007, UK GDP per capita measured in US dollars was $45,890 – rivalling that of the United States and well ahead of that in Germany, France, Italy and Japan.

But now UK GDP per person has fallen to $35,590 – 23% lower than in the US and more than 10% lower than in Germany, France and Japan...

Measured at purchasing power parity, which irons out those differences, British living standards in 2009 were still higher than in Germany, France, Italy and Japan. But UK living standards still trail those in the US by almost 25% on this measure and the gap is expected to widen in 2010 as the US economy recovers more strongly...

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