Of the G7 countries only Italy has fared worse. Since the 2007-08 crash, the UK economy has expanded at an average annual rate of just 0.9 per cent (compared with 2.7 per cent before the crisis). If austerity did not lead to a more just society, it also did not lead to a more prosperous economy. I don’t want to be melodramatic but are we really going to balance the budget at the cost of children starving and people dying in hospitals?” (Even if the government increases welfare benefits in line with inflation, the standard monthly payment will still be worth around £50 less in real terms than in 2010.)

“Public services are already fraying at the seams, and in some areas collapsing, thanks to the last round of austerity.

Science and Technical Research and DevelopmentĪt the prospect of more austerity, the normally mild-mannered Chang became indignant.Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities.Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives.Information and Communications Technology.HR, Training and Organisational Development.Health - Medical and Nursing Management.Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance.Spices told the story of how the corporation “made capitalism a great success but is now slowly strangling it” chilli prompted a discussion of how “care work is neglected and undervalued, despite being at the foundation of our economy and society”.

Chang’s prawns feature in one chapter on why “developing countries need to use protectionism against superior foreign competition” my beef gyozas recalled another chapter on why “free trade doesn’t mean freedom for all”. “Over time I’ve become more and more convinced that in a capitalist economy, democracy is meaningless without everyone knowing some economics because so many decisions are bound up with it,” Chang explained when we met in Sushi Samba, a JapaneseSouth American restaurant, in central London.Īs we ate, the subjects of Chang’s book materialised on our plates. Like others before him – such as John Maynard Keynes, JK Galbraith, Paul Krugman – Chang strives to appeal to a non-specialist audience. The South Korean academic, 59, whose books have sold more than two million copies and been translated into 45 languages, has now revived his original ambition through Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World. The 2008 financial crisis prompted him to write the lucid 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, which became an international bestseller, and Economics: The User’s Guide (the NS’s John Gray described Chang as “the best critic” of neoliberalism). For 15 years, Ha-Joon Chang had wanted to write a book connecting two of his greatest loves: economics and food.

Joon chang