Meta tags:
Headings (most frequently used words):
the, nef, is, and, of, at, banks, head, in, writer, with, climate, change, programme, policy, team, what, david, boyle, fellow, editor, newspaper, radical, economics, triple, crunch, blog, danger, ghettoisation, poor, as, government, axes, housing, benefit, green, investment, bank, born, 77, months, counting, surplus, technology, reporting, back, from, steady, state, economy, conference, legal, aid, market, for, lemons, keynes, treasury, squeeze, on, society, george, right, crisis, did, start, now, it, must, end, too, budget, response, poverty, jobs, tax, tony, greenham, finance, business, andrew, simms, director, stephen, whitehead, project, manager, democracy, participation, our, guest, blogger, lucy, glynn, activist, based, leeds, susan, steed, researcher, valuing, matters, anna, coote, social, about, recent, posts, archives, categories, tags, projects, friends, we, re, reading,
Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (379), and (157), that (79), for (57), this (41), with (39), but (38), are (38), nef (32), not (31), more (29), have (28), economy (26), will (26), people (25), can (25), new (23), which (23), our (22), there (22), what (21), about (21), has (20), was (19), green (18), 2010 (18), from (18), they (18), out (15), one (15), #climate (15), #government (15), 2009 (14), housing (14), only (14), way (14), their (13), economic (13), change (13), good (13), too (13), banks (12), being (12), social (12), bank (12), banking (12), been (12), big (12), tax (11), george (11), osborne (11), may (11), june (11), society (11), these (11), how (11), need (11), first (11), time (11), like (10), economics (10), investment (10), energy (10), public (10), financial (10), crisis (10), budget (10), future (10), legal (10), aid (10), market (10), all (10), local (10), who (10), comment (9), blog (9), now (9), well (9), keynes (9), growth (9), tags (9), treasury (9), other (9), when (9), its (9), because (9), advice (9), quality (9), some (9), just (9), many (9), get (8), months (8), services (8), cuts (8), carbon (8), steady (8), state (8), conference (8), benefit (8), things (8), low (8), also (8), policy (8), find (8), deal (7), surplus (7), his (7), leave (7), why (7), demand (7), work (7), into (7), human (7), shirky (7), com (6), crunch (6), create (6), transition (6), national (6), jobs (6), global (6), deficit (6), july (6), back (6), business (6), through (6), make (6), idea (6), something (6), enough (6), system (6), let (6), problem (6), don (6), place (6), without (6), commission (6), problems (6), them (6), were (6), making (6), world (6), building (6), triple (5), capacity (5), small (5), poverty (5), oil (5), great (5), justice (5), david (5), lemons (5), recent (5), said (5), head (5), want (5), cut (5), contributions (5), income (5), infrastructure (5), longer (5), end (5), most (5), than (5), right (5), start (5), very (5), community (5), better (5), spend (5), over (5), providers (5), cost (5), case (5), ways (5), efficiency (5), creating (5), car (5), could (5), you (5), tool (5), share (5), house (5), london (5), wordpress (4), report (4), subscribe (4), those (4), should (4), hundred (4), reform (4), alternative (4), squeeze (4), poor (4), finance (4), programme (4), needs (4), less (4), tony (4), greenham (4), since (4), away (4), sector (4), chancellor (4), much (4), again (4), keep (4), point (4), bringing (4), lending (4), made (4), working (4), attention (4), approach (4), boyle (4), writer (4), take (4), crises (4), areas (4), spending (4), save (4), used (4), where (4), means (4), whether (4), level (4), question (4), life (4), style (4), put (4), funding (4), leeds (4), city (4), had (4), media (4), even (4), workshops (4), balance (4), use (4), then (4), asked (4), best (4), powerful (4), easy (4), reducing (4), different (4), cities (4), mix (4), cognitive (4), large (4), both (4), potential (4), able (4), instead (4), longing (4), sea (4), mention (4), gib (4), solutions (4), collins (4), site (3), comments (3), view (3), log (3), previous (3), foundation (3), fund (3), research (3), bigger (3), accounts (3), group (3), projects (3), cable (3), towns (3), progress (3), peter (3), john (3), maynard (3), inequality (3), general (3), employment (3), debt (3), credit (3), production (3), children (3), bonuses (3), interdependence (3), 2008 (3), technology (3), danger (3), insurance (3), enterprise (3), researcher (3), vat (3), groups (3), plans (3), clear (3), next (3), step (3), must (3), radical (3), such (3), doesn (3), billion (3), third (3), pay (3), fantasy (3), somehow (3), old (3), unless (3), useful (3), recession (3), any (3), quite (3), peregrination (3), catacombs (3), service (3), help (3), spaces (3), raise (3), day (3), two (3), left (3), long (3), little (3), money (3), seems (3), increasing (3), number (3), consequences (3), provision (3), down (3), second (3), rather (3), cars (3), european (3), getting (3), changing (3), akerlof (3), drive (3), example (3), price (3), coalition (3), team (3), never (3), form (3), andrew (3), simms (3), reduced (3), discussion (3), needed (3), professor (3), director (3), solve (3), ambitious (3), online (3), collaboration (3), tools (3), cautious (3), difficult (3), scale (3), vast (3), together (3), makes (3), crowdsourcing (3), tasks (3), three (3), reasons (3), book (3), internet (3), yet (3), called (3), would (3), impulse (3), endless (3), encourage (3), invest (3), bob (3), sticks (3), home (3), prs (3), poorer (3), particular (3), josh (3), ryan (3), addthis (3), website (2), required (2), collapse (2), content (2), sign (2), subscribed (2), already (2), feed (2), johnson (2), free (2), reflect (2), guardian (2), happy (2), planet (2), index (2), picture (2), vince (2), unemployment (2), businesses (2), science (2), royal (2), post (2), measures (2), gdp (2), democracy (2), consumption (2), young (2), indicators (2), select (2), categories (2), october (2), november (2), december (2), january (2), february (2), march (2), april (2), month (2), archives (2), reporting (2), counting (2), born (2), ghettoisation (2), axes (2), posts (2), follow (2), short (2), resources (2), does (2), success (2), faiza (2), shaheen (2), while (2), north (2), won (2), created (2), increase (2), impact (2), costs (2), property (2), affordable (2), giving (2), taking (2), says (2), barely (2), heard (2), nothing (2), began (2), ensure (2), happen (2), levy (2), perspective (2), bankers (2), themselves (2), andy (2), wimbush (2), emergency (2), key (2), recovery (2), forward (2), off (2), imagine (2), although (2), between (2), full (2), encouraged (2), century (2), despite (2), official (2), elsewhere (2), clearly (2), main (2), reason (2), fit (2), speculative (2), though (2), say (2), believe (2), warned (2), guttering (2), candle (2), thing (2), fellow (2), editor (2), newspaper (2), meet (2), improve (2), welfare (2), valuable (2), preventing (2), examples (2), appetising (2), school (2), access (2), sports (2), build (2), same (2), focused (2), individuals (2), each (2), anna (2), coote (2), danny (2), ancient (2), fear (2), extra (2), hardly (2), recently (2), once (2), led (2), challenging (2), trying (2), live (2), line (2), begun (2), debate (2), savings (2), failures (2), own (2), fact (2), isn (2), private (2), living (2), rights (2), contracts (2), cases (2), functions (2), responding (2), none (2), included (2), provide (2), remains (2), seen (2), argued (2), set (2), taken (2), court (2), decent (2), matters (2), changes (2), classic (2), know (2), lemon (2), average (2), result (2), grim (2), currently (2), feel (2), lost (2), others (2), ideas (2), proposals (2), achieve (2), ourselves (2), really (2), monetary (2), consumer (2), recommendations (2), gas (2), resounding (2), victor (2), urgently (2), 250 (2), author (2), environmental (2), university (2), casse (2), political (2), ejfa (2), held (2), based (2), allow (2), offers (2), participation (2), perhaps (2), might (2), value (2), doing (2), important (2), sense (2), project (2), shared (2), american (2), lets (2), patients (2), information (2), add (2), sort (2), networks (2), extreme (2), begin (2), mass (2), domestic (2), productive (2), enthusiasm (2), classes (2), week (2), stephen (2), whitehead (2), around (2), having (2), yes (2), rational (2), benefits (2), construction (2), suggested (2), effect (2), reliable (2), shortage (2), necessary (2), high (2), times (2), trade (2), shame (2), distribute (2), abandoned (2), wrong (2), unmentionable (2), proposal (2), years (2), england (2), blunt (2), going (2), easier (2), institutional (2), funds (2), thousands (2), wigley (2), policies (2), regime (2), grants (2), guts (2), homes (2), council (2), found (2), capital (2), direction (2), levels (2), according (2), bed (2), residents (2), tenants (2), immigrants (2), similar (2), img (2), margin (2), 5px (2), src (2), alt (2), width (2), height (2), border (2), bookmark (2), http (2), interlinked (2), started, design, name, email, write, loading, bar, manage, subscriptions, reader, privacy, account, ben, eastaugh, chris, sternal, entries, employees, personal, opinions, expressed, here, necessarily, ecologist, bailed, reading, culture, rob, hopkins, richard, murphy, debtonation, ann, pettifor, friends, tobin, supermarkets, return, mail, scotland, robin, hood, renewable, ration, offices, politics, mandelson, peak, mental, health, localism, gordon, brown, election, fossil, fuels, food, exclusion, miliband, ecological, cameron, denial, rationing, barack, obama, aviation, adair, turner, activism, thriving, communities, round, 111, 130, category, august, september, operated, flickr, twitter, vimeo, logic, difference, revenue, taxing, term, speculation, pollution, waste, natural, employer, kernel, involves, shifting, burden, nor, considerable, barriers, regions, welcome, waiver, midlands, fill, gap, threshold, positive, measure, hike, disproportionately, negative, cap, overlooks, root, cause, rise, namely, boom, lack, hand, scientist, victoria, committed, still, detail, funded, spoke, mentioned, dangerous, supposedly, five, year, rapid, unequivocally, stated, annual, response, across, solving, ineffective, critical, staving, suggest, cajoled, effectively, locally, systems, emerge, names, investigate, hugely, inspiring, ones, hands, expensive, lobbyists, industry, everywhere, desperate, chained, supplicants, dispensation, link, implications, seem, worked, ahead, produce, oligopoly, dinosaurs, inherited, huge, mergers, throughout, decades, certainly, magically, purpose, structure, implication, didn, bit, anal, hawk, possibly, reverse, lead, recognition, justification, points, paid, did, read, think, especially, experience, users, servants, transformed, prevantative, victims, essential, harm, improving, encouraging, self, mutual, include, healthy, meals, child, care, open, swimming, meeting, places, training, prescribing, gps, activities, programmes, older, active, socially, connected, urban, push, run, wants, imposing, sharply, arising, intensifying, supporting, schools, persuade, per, cent, agenda, alexander, stand, tackle, hideous, mistake, survive, dismantled, bird, told, attitude, reverted, type, faced, available, kind, puritanical, retrenchment, death, worry, 1930s, dna, immemorial, ready, lend, library, copy, pamphlets, scrawled, officials, words, bankruptcy, insanity, workers, congratulate, itself, rmj, desks, pretty, dire, actually, cutting, false, contribute, further, costly, appeals, haven, explore, terms, unable, representation, shifts, poorly, thought, budgets, commissioned, delivered, constraining, ability, correcting, unintended, complicated, uphold, enforcing, introducing, focus, numbers, individual, missing, fundamental, markets, proactively, includes, test, preventative, education, commons, ken, clarke, proudly, announced, area, gone, present, introduced, monitoring, critics, fixed, fee, takes, skill, expertise, understand, law, applied, correctly, seeking, importance, quantity, supplied, indeed, parallels, famously, described, economist, 1970, article, wanted, illustrate, uncertainty, provided, dealers, generally, selling, banger, runner, cherries, sorts, hard, detect, factors, owner, driving, customer, cherry, assume, looking, probably, half, charity, provides, warnings, organisation, under, administration, attempt, marketise, refugee, migrant, wake, speech, wondering, affect, susan, steed, valuing, refugees, caravan, buzz, missed, coverage, starting, another, discussed, collated, manifesto, outline, basis, movement, themes, reconnecting, reconsidering, deciding, lives, reminded, forgetting, fun, eight, limiting, resource, stabilising, population, reforming, maintaining, distributing, fairly, practices, measuring, achieving, successful, within, globalised, process, behaviour, engaging, politicians, participants, expert, done, fiscal, greenhouse, emissions, relying, bet, reply, backed, detailed, computer, model, opened, disaster, reminding, until, 1950, strive, attracted, academics, economists, organisations, activists, ngos, played, part, keynote, speakers, studies, york, canada, dan, neill, tim, jackson, sustainable, development, surrey, prosperity, managing, leaders, parties, thinking, seriously, develop, lorna, arblaster, explained, organised, sustainability, debating, aim, coming, concrete, center, advancement, extent, guest, blogger, lucy, glynn, activist, argues, 21st, true, asks, reflecting, creation, importantly, effects, creator, art, music, software, code, inspired, close, creates, reproduced, tiny, beyond, inconvenient, friction, sometimes, space, obstacle, wonderful, bitesize, contextless, hollowed, essence, assembly, transforms, intellectual, deskilled, mechanical, processes, extremely, effective, maybe, criteria, judge, certain, kinds, drew, liftshare, roadtrips, condition, symptoms, medication, aggregates, anonymises, researchers, wikipedia, introduction, sites, common, presenting, task, lots, virtue, sheer, hammer, mean, face, nails, talked, ridiculously, formation, enabled, interests, collaborate, vibrant, parks, libraries, cafes, pavements, neighbours, keeping, jane, jacobs, serendipity, sidewalk, contacts, filter, potentially, tolerant, views, untapped, amount, passively, consuming, througout, history, product, hollowing, atomisation, decline, chronicled, observers, robert, putnam, rooted, labour, demands, increased, flexibility, migration, international, erosion, traditional, class, identities, robbed, energies, upon, institutions, offered, outlets, creativity, evening, amateur, churches, lucky, see, evangelist, clay, talking, latest, creative, collaborative, possibilities, unlocked, unleash, reserves, skills, fritter, front, television, biggest, liked, struck, manager, try, generations, look, ask, yourselves, harness, transformative, tying, bloodless, technocratic, exercise, thinker, zygmunt, bauman, convinced, calls, gardeners, obsessive, compulsive, utopians, always, job, complete, heart, modern, brilliantly, opted, sellers, disposable, upgradable, goods, makeover, shows, counter, intuitively, embrace, unambitious, novelty, redesigned, gadgets, added, apps, assumption, destructive, harnessed, conspicuous, bad, innately, dematerialised, redirected, simply, stuff, towards, current, trends, 2016, likely, stay, side, risks, surround, destabilising, arks, excited, adventure, unknown, seas, equal, parts, fearful, exhilarating, released, admittedly, moment, watch, pictures, typically, covered, slick, gulf, mexico, courtesy, action, outlined, failing, harbour, journey, operates, biosphere, boat, lies, pieces, dockside, incomplete, cloud, whitening, seeding, heat, atmosphere, enjoyed, shower, interest, cooling, overall, rainfall, simultaneously, pattern, monsoons, carnegie, institution, indian, institute, brainer, initiatives, roll, makeovers, buildings, wind, wave, solar, power, turn, exotic, entertained, neither, mystery, conditions, sources, approved, capitalised, economically, attractive, broader, repeatedly, exhaustively, detox, published, zero, britain, 2030, ample, switching, period, genuinely, clean, dangers, comprehensively, examined, austerity, minded, acutely, concerned, single, figure, barrel, prove, far, modest, replacing, imports, estimates, list, patient, evidence, environment, salad, leaf, wilt, sun, suggests, ship, call, men, gather, wood, prepare, proclaimed, french, antoine, saint, exupéry, teach, finally, 550bn, questioner, floor, pointed, pumped, 200bn, caused, zimbabwe, orthodox, horror, printing, impolite, spare, quantitative, easing, kick, characteristically, evasiveness, afraid, former, member, dodge, directly, operative, give, cash, giant, hold, earn, route, identifies, tens, solution, aggregate, morsels, suitably, dish, managers, feast, launching, packed, alliance, summer, reception, chairman, refreshingly, surveying, dismal, households, renewables, observed, anywhere, loans, last, requires, penalising, owners, however, understandably, diplomatic, opinion, fortitude, fan, launched, celebrate, explicitly, recognises, applies, brains, hope, acts, quickly, non, sensical, doubt, demotion, minister, lively, grant, schnapps, cabinet, anyone, news, please, secondly, supply, empty, properties, regarding, tories, paper, incentivising, matching, authorities, built, six, special, incentives, sadly, eric, pickles, secretary, targets, resulting, reversal, planned, course, knock, massive, taxpayer, arguments, fundamentals, sorted, firstly, prices, earth, taxes, buy, investors, bring, buyers, decision, gains, nowhere, near, obviously, battle, fair, sensible, earned, higher, unearned, asset, appreciation, highest, wealth, europe, unequal, developed, dorling, showed, richest, worth, 273, poorest, severe, geographical, polarisation, check, universal, programs, promise, serious, rethink, variety, least, chaotic, organic, announcement, massively, reduce, opposite, allowance, incomes, unemployed, below, rents, fall, capped, 400, four, forced, richer, south, east, rented, buyount, region, landlords, happily, evict, rental, knowledge, plenty, wealthier, cleansing, story, often, ghettoised, paris, located, les, banlieues, grey, blocks, crime, racial, tension, joys, diversity, minute, walking, past, million, pound, mansions, kensington, yourself, middle, estate, populated, native, generation, bus, tube, confronts, dynamic, birmingham, manchester, title, href, target, _blank, 125, button, button1, gif, www, php, https, neftriplecrunch, uploads, josh_ryan, jpg,
Text of the page (random words):
fearful and exhilarating is yet to be released admittedly at the moment this is made more difficult by the fact that when most people watch pictures of the sea it s typically covered in a vast oil slick in the gulf of mexico courtesy of bp on current trends in 77 months time by the end of 2016 it will no longer be likely that we will be able to stay on the right side of the risks that surround destabilising our climate system yes we need to start building our low carbon energy arks but we need more than that an excited longing for things to be different better the human impulse at the heart of modern society has been brilliantly co opted by the sellers of disposable upgradable consumer goods not to mention by tv makeover shows counter intuitively in some ways we embrace change but we demand it in unambitious ways through novelty redesigned gadgets with extra functions and added apps in this sense we approach the world on the assumption that it is never good enough the impulse may be destructive when harnessed to conspicuous consumption but does it have to be a bad thing innately and can t it be dematerialised and redirected from simply having more stuff towards a better way of being the thinker zygmunt bauman makes the point that the the good society is the society that is convinced it is not good enough he calls gardeners obsessive compulsive utopians always trying to improve the world around them in a job that is never complete as we try to ensure a world fit for future generations have a look around and ask yourselves is this the best that we can do what would it take and what could we achieve if we were able to harness our transformative impulse for good instead of tying ourselves into a bloodless technocratic exercise what if we were able to find a longing for the endless sea a surplus of technology 1 july 2010 in general by stephen whitehead leave a comment stephen whitehead is a project manager in the democracy and participation team at nef this week i was lucky enough to see american social media evangelist clay shirky talking about his latest book the cognitive surplus shirky argued that the new creative and collaborative possibilities unlocked by the internet will allow us to unleash this surplus the vast reserves of time skills and enthusiasm that we currently fritter away in front of the television to solve some of society s biggest problems but while i liked much of what he had to say it struck me that shirky is being both too too ambitious and too cautious too ambitious that is about technology and too cautious about human potential to begin with i have a problem with shirky s idea of an untapped cognitive surplus although many of us may spend a large amount of time passively consuming media right now this has hardly been the case througout human history the so called cognitive surplus is a product of the hollowing out of social life through increasing atomisation the decline in social networks chronicled by observers like robert putnam and rooted in a labour market which demands increased flexibility mass migration both domestic and international and the erosion of traditional class identities is what has robbed us of ways to use our energies in ways which are both productive and social and just as once upon a time we had institutions which offered us outlets for our time enthusiasm and creativity from evening classes to amateur sports to churches there s no reason why we can t do so again the internet is one place where we can spend our cognitive surplus but it s by no means the only place and there are reasons why it might not be the best place in his first book shirky talked about how ridiculously easy group formation enabled by the internet let us find people who shared our interests and collaborate with them but this is not the only way to find people the most vibrant cities and towns create spaces parks libraries cafes even pavements where we can mix with people who are very different to us and yet who we share something important with that they are our neighbours by keeping us away from what jane jacobs called the serendipity of sidewalk contacts online spaces filter our social networks to people just like us potentially making us less tolerant and more extreme in our views there are other problems too online collaboration is very good at certain kinds of tasks shirky drew on three different examples the first liftshare is an american site which lets people find others to share long roadtrips with the second patients like me lets patients log their condition symptoms and medication and then aggregates and anonymises that information to share it with researchers and the third wikipedia needs no introduction but all of these sites have something in common they are about bringing together information and presenting it in a useful way and all three approach that task by crowdsourcing getting lots of people to make small easy contributions which by virtue of their sheer number add up to something very big that s a powerful tool but it s only one sort of tool that s a powerful tool but it s only one sort of tool if crowdsourcing is a hammer it doesn t mean that all the problems we face are nails what s more crowdsourcing by reducing the work of individuals to bitesize contextless contributions offers a hollowed out idea of what it means to create things in essence it s a new form of assembly line which transforms intellectual work into deskilled mechanical processes it may be extremely effective but maybe that s not the only criteria by which we should judge it creation is important not just because of the things that we create but also and perhaps more importantly because of the way that it effects the creator making art music software code or even blog posts has value not just because of it s capacity to change the world but also because of its capacity to make us feel inspired valuable and powerful working with other people in close collaboration at a human scale creates a sense of community which can t be reproduced by making tiny contributions to a project that s vast beyond our capacity to imagine the inconvenient friction of working together with sometimes difficult other people in a shared space is not just an obstacle to creating wonderful things it s also a way in which creating them makes us better people shirky then is too ambitious in that he argues that online collaboration is the tool which will allow us to solve the problems of the 21st century it s powerful true but it s only one of the tools that we need but he s also too cautious in that he asks too little of people he offers them easy participation without perhaps reflecting that there might be a value to doing difficult things reporting back from the steady state economy conference 29 june 2010 in future economy global interdependence tags alternative indicators climate change economic growth financial crisis gdp measures of progress steady state by nef 1 comment our guest blogger lucy glynn is a writer and activist based in leeds the global financial crisis climate change poverty and bp the extent of the problem is clear but what is the best way to solve it this was the question asked at the first steady state economy conference held in leeds on june 19 the conference was organised by economic justice for all ejfa a leeds economics and sustainability debating group and the center for the advancement of the steady state economy casse with the aim of coming up with some concrete policy recommendations if the leaders of the main political parties in the uk are not thinking seriously about an alternative to economic growth then we the people must urgently start and develop the discussion dr lorna arblaster of ejfa explained it was a discussion that was urgently needed the conference attracted over 250 academics economists community organisations activists ngos and business people who played as much a part in making the day a resounding success as the keynote speakers peter victor author of managing without growth and professor in environmental studies york university canada andrew simms policy director at nef dan o neill european director of casse and tim jackson author of prosperity without growth and professor of sustainable development university of surrey peter victor opened the conference by challenging our fear of a no growth disaster and reminding us that until 1950 there was no discussion of economic growth as something to strive for can we have full employment no poverty fiscal balance and reduced greenhouse gas emissions without relying on economic growth he asked you bet was his resounding reply which he backed up with a detailed computer model participants were then asked to put forward alternative policy recommendations in expert led workshops on how this could be done in the uk these included eight policy focused workshops limiting resource use stabilising population reforming the monetary system maintaining low unemployment distributing income more fairly changing business practices measuring quality of life and achieving a successful uk transition within a globalised economy as well as two process workshops changing consumer behaviour and engaging politicians and the media well being and work life balance were key themes of the day as was reconnecting with ourselves reconsidering what it means to be human and deciding what we really want from our lives and as andrew simms reminded us not forgetting to have fun the conference was just the start the ideas and proposals which were discussed in the workshops will be collated into a manifesto which will outline how to achieve a steady state economy in the uk and will form the basis for the movement s next step so what of leeds now that the steady state caravan has left there s a buzz in the city people who missed the conference feel that they ve lost out and others who had never heard of a steady state economy have seen the local media coverage with all the crises and government cuts they may even be starting to question whether there is another better way legal aid and the market for lemons 24 june 2010 in future economy tags efficiency savings george akerlof legal aid refugees by nef leave a comment susan steed is a researcher in the valuing what matters team at nef in the wake of george osborne s first budget speech many are wondering how the coalition government s plans to cut the deficit will affect the public sector the case of the legal aid and human rights charity refugee and migrant justice provides some rather grim warnings the organisation is currently under administration because of changes in the funding of legal aid which attempt to marketise legal aid provision there are many problems with these changes they make no provision for quality advice over quantity supplied indeed it has many parallels with the classic economic problem famously described by economist george akerlof in his 1970 article the market for lemons akerlof wanted to illustrate how uncertainty in the quality of the good or service being provided can drive out good providers the classic example is used cars used car dealers generally know whether the car they re selling is an old banger a lemon or a decent little runner cherries because of all sorts of hard to detect factors such as the previous owner s driving style the customer has no idea whether they re getting a cherry or a lemon so they assume that the car they re looking at is probably half way between the two an average quality car and they pay an average price for it the end result is that only people who have lemons put their cars on the market now back to legal aid in the commons debate on the 17 june ken clarke proudly announced that the number of people who want to provide service in this area has gone up it remains to be seen whether these providers are giving good quality legal advice or lemons at present the government has not introduced a way of monitoring the quality of services many critics have argued that the fixed fee has been set too low to provide quality advice it takes quality providers with the skill and expertise to understand when the law is not been applied correctly or when a case can be taken to the level of a european court no longer is this a question of getting a decent used car for people seeking legal aid these are matters of life changing importance this problem is complicated by the fact that justice isn t a private good like used cars it s a public good we all benefit from living in a society where we can uphold our rights and have a means of enforcing them by introducing contracts that focus on numbers of individual cases of advice we re missing some of the fundamental functions of legal aid it is not just about responding to demand and creating more demand as markets do but responding to this demand proactively this includes taking on test cases policy work preventative and education work none of these are included in the new contracts the consequences of this are pretty dire first it may actually cost more cutting the cost of advice provision is a false economy it can contribute to cost further down the line in costly appeals second we haven t begun to explore the cost in human terms to those unable to access quality advice or find representation for their case but it also shifts the debate about public spending cuts at nef we believe there are ways to do more with less but have warned about the unintended consequences of poorly thought through efficiency savings the problem is not only that budgets are being cut but the way services are being commissioned and delivered are constraining their ability to work for public benefit rather than correcting market failures they may be creating more of their own as the workers at rmj clear their desks the government can congratulate itself on the increasing number of providers trying to get into the market there may well be more providers of advice but will we live in a society with more justice keynes and the treasury 24 june 2010 in future economy tags george osborne hm treasury john maynard keynes by david boyle 3 comments david boyle is a nef fellow a writer and the editor of nef s newspaper radical economics in the library of the treasury there is an ancient copy of one of keynes pamphlets and it has been scrawled over by treasury officials with the words bankruptcy and insanity keynes was challenging the treasury idea which seems to have been in their dna since time immemorial that the way out of recession is to get people to save not spend the money has to be in the banks ready to lend keynes view was that in the end this kind of puritanical retrenchment led to death a peregrination in the catacombs with a guttering candle but we don t have to worry because that was in the 1930s or do we a little bird told me recently that the attitude in the treasury has reverted to type faced with the recession and deficit once again the official view is that p...
|
