Question 2: Do you agree that quantitative well-being analysis should play an important role in guiding policy makers in determining macroeconomic policies?
This is now a very connected world, in which discontent can become more apparent. Policymakers need to be more alive to the issues which are really disturbing citizens and localities. These surveys may help, and may guide not so much macroeconomic policies but the micropolicies of tax and spatial issues.
Question 1: Do you agree that subjective well-being measures, or at least some of the subindices from the typical survey measures, are now reliable enough to give useful insights when used in macroeconomic empirical analysis?
In the UK at least, we have not enough track record of some of these surveys to make use of them adequately to assess the impact of economic shocks or policy changes. However, it would be useful for this to develop, and this purpose strongly to inform the development of the surveys.
The EU referendum and the recent data on productivity gaps suggest that the regional issues, while intractable, need to be given much more energy and resource.
Industrial sounds a bit old hat - but yes, I do think the UK government needs to work out how to be collaborative with industry in several sectors. And we have to not fret over every mistake!
Question 2: Do you agree that the traditional argument that less central bank independence leads to higher inflation will (still) be relevant over the next 48 months in Western economies?
It's hard to know how far labour market behaviour has changed, and would change again if central banks are less independent. But my view is that the changes in labour markets are not related to central bank independence.
The CFM surveys informs the public about the views held by prominent economists based in Europe on important macroeconomic and public policy questions. Some surveys focus specifically on the UK economy (as the CFM is a UK research centre), but surveys can in principle focus on any macroeconomic question for any region. The surveys shed light on the extent to which there is agreement or disagreement among these experts. An important motivation for the survey is to give a more comprehensive overview of the beliefs held by economists and in particular to include the views of those economists whose opinions are not frequently heard in public debates.
Questions mainly focus on macroeconomic and public policy topics. Although there are some questions that focus specifically on the UK economy, the setup of the survey is much broader and considers questions related to other countries/regions and also considers questions not tied to a specific economy.
The surveys are done in collaboration with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
Happiness and well-being as objectives of macro policy
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Question 2: Do you agree that quantitative well-being analysis should play an important role in guiding policy makers in determining macroeconomic policies?
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Question 1: Do you agree that subjective well-being measures, or at least some of the subindices from the typical survey measures, are now reliable enough to give useful insights when used in macroeconomic empirical analysis?
A “new” UK industrial strategy ?
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Question 2: Do you agree that the UK needs a new regional policy?
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Question 1: Do you agree that the UK needs a new industrial policy?
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The Future of Central Bank Independence
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Question 2: Do you agree that the traditional argument that less central bank independence leads to higher inflation will (still) be relevant over the next 48 months in Western economies?
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