Politicians and Economic Experts

An insightful and rousing call to turn away from technocracy, which has sowed the seeds of polarization and distrust, to reconnect the economy and democracy through being honest about the contested and moral foundations of economic policymaking. I hope that this book will encourage politicians across the world to engage their citizens in debate about what a good economy in the twenty-first century should look like. -- Joe Earle, co-author of The Econocracy and Reclaiming Economics Anna Killick has struck gold once again with an exemplary illustration of what can be learnt by taking the time to sit down with politicians and simply talking to them. Killick navigates her way with admirable adroitness through three interconnected issues: economics, populism and expertise. She paints a highly complex but hugely informative picture of how politicians come to hold certain economic opinions and how they seek to persuade their publics to think likewise. This is an exceptionally important book that deserves to have a significant impact. -- Matthew Watson, University of Warwick Anna Killick has written a scholarly, thoroughly researched, book on the interaction between politicians and economists. We have seen, with Brexit and more recently with the Truss administration's tax cuts, examples of the tension between the two played out in public. This book takes a detailed look at that relationship, drawing on interviews with politicians in the USA, UK, France and Germany in particular. -- Vince Cable, former leader of the Liberal Democrats