Corporate activity in The Monday Briefing
Christmas quiz
Our Christmas quiz covers an eclectic mix of topics, many related to economics and business. The answers and a brief explanation of the factors at work are below each question.
From neo-liberalism to neo-statism
Last week’s UK Budget was one of the most consequential of recent decades. The small state, low tax approach of successive Conservative chancellors has gone into reverse. This is a policy choice, not something forced on the government by the demands of the pandemic. The government has made a decision to opt for a bigger state funded by raising taxes’ share of GDP to the highest levels since the post-war Atlee government.
Experimentation and the future of work
The pandemic triggered a vast experiment in remote working. Just as the industrial revolution moved workers from the countryside to urban centres, and the automobile era moved residential life to the suburbs, the pandemic has the capacity to remake the nature of work, and where it is done.
Summer quiz
Our summer quiz offers an eclectic test of knowledge, of pandemic-related developments, many in economics and business. The answers and a brief explanation of the factors at work are at the end of the quiz.
Summer reading list
You may not have been able to get to your preferred holiday haunt this year, but we hope that our summer reading list will offer a distraction wherever you spend your summer break. The eight articles are available free online, although some websites restrict the number of articles that can be accessed without charge each month.
Is the economic emergency beginning or ending?
Last week the UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, warned that the UK’s “economic emergency has only just begun”. This struck me as overly pessimistic. While it’s not hard to think of things that could go wrong, some things are going right. Here are three of them, drawing on last week’s spending review and the accompanying report from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The pandemic and climate change
At the start of this year our plan was that today’s briefing would cover the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, which was due to end last week. Hosted by the UK in Glasgow, it was set to be a landmark in international efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Like much else it has succumbed to the pandemic, and will now take place next November. COVID-19 has forced the conference’s postponement but it has also generated new momentum on climate change. Six recent announcements testify to the gathering pace of change.
Deloitte Monday Briefing: US elections, UK lockdown
Faced with choosing to write about the US elections or the lockdown in England in this week’s briefing we are doing the obvious thing and covering both.
The age of government activism
Join our next fortnightly COVID-19 webinar, focussing on building resilience, on Thursday, 5 November, at 13:00 GMT: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1365454&tp_key=8f4d835e66&sti=mmb
Governments around the world have responded to the pandemic by borrowing, and spending, on a vast scale, equivalent to 12% of world GDP. Twelve years ago, in the financial crisis, monetary policy did the heavy lifting in supporting growth. Now, with interest rates near zero, the burden has fallen on fiscal policy.
The long COVID recovery
Our latest Chief Financial Officers Survey, released overnight, shines light on the plans of the UK’s largest corporates as we enter a new period of restrictions. The full report is available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/finance/articles/deloitte-cfo-survey.html