Follow the Money: 'Gripping and horrifying... witty and brilliant. Buy it' The Times

— —

Paul Johnson

Follow the Money

'Gripping and horrifying... witty and brilliant. Buy it' The Times

Paul Johnson

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English

Abacus
13 June 2023

Macroeconomics

What is the truth about Britain's finances?

'Read it, absorb it, and understand how the country works' Laura Kuenssberg

'Paul Johnson - the oracle of fiscal - has provided the perfect guide through this dense thicket of fiscal facts and fictions' Andy Haldane

'If you want to understand why crazy politics routinely trumps economic rationality in government choices, read this' Robert Peston

'Fire and passion, combined with the facts... Every politician should get a copy' Polly Toynbee

Paul Johnson and the enormously respected Institute for Fiscal Studies aim to hold Government to account - without which politicians will get away with their half-truths, elisions and dubious claims.

This is a forensic examination - by the man best placed to do so - of the way the state raises and spends

1 trillion of our money every year. To follow the money. To provide an explanation, of where that money comes from and where it goes to, how that has changed and how it needs to change.

Government decisions determine the welfare of the poor and the elderly, the state of the health service, the effectiveness of our children's education, and how prepared we are for the future: whether that is a pandemic or global warming. As a society, we are a reflection of what the government spends.

Johnson looks at what happened following the financial crisis of 2008-09 and the austerity years that followed. He examines the way that the government

tackled the economy during Covid - when the UK budget shot up to over a trillion for the first time - and he analyses prospects for our future as we grapple with looming recession and the cost of living crisis.

By: Paul Johnson
Imprint: Abacus
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 230mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 385g
ISBN: 9781408714003
ISBN 10: 1408714000
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 13 June 2023
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul Johnson has been Director of the IFS since January 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London. Paul has worked and published extensively on the economics of public policy, with a particular focus on income distribution, public finances, pensions, tax, social security, education and climate change. He was awarded a CBE for services to the social sciences and economics in 2018. As well as a previous period of work at the IFS his career has included spells at HM Treasury, the Department for Education and the FSA. Between 2004 and 2007 he was deputy head of the Government Economic Service. Paul Johnson is currently also a member of the committee on climate change and the Banking Standards Board.

Reviews for Follow the Money: 'Gripping and horrifying... witty and brilliant. Buy it' The Times

This book is the antidote to naivety that our political class needs... The story he tells may leave you reeling... Johnson's buoyant yet acerbic style will keep you engaged. The sobering realities he lays out are peppered with entertaining asides * Sunday Times * A treasure trove of killer facts * Guardian * Read it, absorb it, and understand how the country works. Johnson uses his talent for crunching the complex into the comprehensible to produce a cheerfully skeptical guide to the British state, revealing it's wisdom and idiocy, and where our money really goes. * Laura Kuenssberg * This is an important book by the economist who has set the terms of so much political debate over the past decade. If you want to understand why crazy politics routinely trumps economic rationality in government choices, read this. * Robert Peston * Paul Johnson - the oracle of fiscal - has provided the perfect guide through this dense thicket of fiscal facts and fictions, both explaining the hard choices we now face and why, as citizens, it matters that we understand and act wisely when making them * Andy Haldane * Fire and passion, combined with the facts. Every politician should get a copy, as the tales of short-sighted, election-fixated, cowardly decision-making are so depressing. And your way forward looks so blindingly sensible. * Polly Toynbee *