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Persistent Productivity Failure in the UK: Is the EU Really to Blame?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Nicholas Crafts
Nicholas Crafts*
Affiliation:
CAGE, University of Warwick
*
E-mail: N.Crafts@warwick.ac.uk
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Abstract

On average, UK productivity performance in the decades leading up to the financial crisis was quite disappointing. Joining the EU was not to blame. Indeed, EU membership, which was an integral part of the Thatcher reform programme, had a significant positive impact. Over the long run, UK supply-side policies have been badly designed in various different ways. These design faults have not been the result of constraints imposed by EU membership but rather the consequence of domestic government failure. There is no reason to think that EU exit will lead, either directly or indirectly, to improvements in UK productivity outcomes.

Keywords

Brexitproductivitysupply-side policyN14O47O52
Type
Research Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 247 , February 2019 , pp. R10 - R18
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

I am grateful to Jagjit Chadha for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. I am to blame for all errors and omissions. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the NIESR 80th Anniversary Session, “Productivity Puzzles: Past and Present” at the Royal Economic Society Conference, 2018. The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent the view of NIESR or of CAGE.

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