Autumn statement is highly political compared to research on 'best' ways to fix public finances

By Gulcin Ozkan, Professor of Finance, King's College London
Dawid Trzeciakiewicz, Lecturer in Economics, Loughborough University
Richard McManus, Director of Research Development/Reader in Macroeconomic Policy, Canterbury Christ Church University

The UK faces some significant belt-tightening following Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement, which announced spending reductions and tax rises of around £55 billion. Much research has been done into the best ways to do fiscal austerity in terms of reducing debt, avoiding economic damage and not exacerbating inequality. So how does this attempt measure up?

That £55 billion retrenchment includes over £30 billion of reduced annual government spending by…

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