The Telegraph, 28 February 28, Roger Bootle
Better than any of its predecessors, Wednesday’s budget encapsulates the dilemmas and balancing acts that dominate economic policy. The main influence is the novel requirement to support the economy through the lockdown. But the thinking behind the budget reflects three established and often conflicting traditions in macro-economics – Keynesian advocacy of using the Government’s budget to manage aggregate demand; orthodox (Gladstonian) considerations of sound public finance; and (Austrian) concerns about economic structure and the long-term effects of government intervention.
Moreover, although it won’t get much, if any, mention in the Budget, lurking off-stage there is a legitimate monetarist worry about resurgent inflation.
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