{"id":277,"date":"2010-09-01T08:13:56","date_gmt":"2010-09-01T08:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leedscd.wordpress.com\/?p=277"},"modified":"2010-09-01T08:13:56","modified_gmt":"2010-09-01T08:13:56","slug":"its-not-all-about-the-economy-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2010\/09\/01\/its-not-all-about-the-economy-stupid\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s NOT all about the economy, STUPID!"},"content":{"rendered":"

So the coalition has major plans to\u00a0re-balance the economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It seems that as far as the UK is concerned this re-balancing means shifting from being paid to move money around (financial services) to the production of wealth through the creation of value by manufacturing and value adding services. \u00a0It also seems to imply shifting the economic engine away from the South East…getting the rest of us to pull our weight.<\/p>\n

Local Economic Partnerships and a \u00a3500bn regional growth fund (a fraction of the budgets available to the Regional Development Agencies when they led this work) are being set up to make it happen.<\/p>\n

This sort of re-structuring of the quangos in pursuit of the holy grail of economic growth has been going on for decades. \u00a0And I am sceptical about what it achieves.<\/p>\n

It configures largely the same people, sitting around largely the same tables having largely the same\u00a0conversations\u00a0(skill needs, infrastructure development, investment readiness etc), pulling on the same ‘economic’ levers (vocational training schemes,\u00a0growth\u00a0investment funds, business support, enterprise zones, ever diluted ‘apprenticeships’ in pursuit over more skilled jobs) and getting pretty much the same, generally disappointing, results – just under a different brand.<\/p>\n

The majority of people are not engaged, leadership is weak and one dimensional (economic growth\u00a0is <\/strong>king) and the whole shooting match leaves most of us as passive recipients of whatever the private sector led quangos decide to do. \u00a0Perhaps invest in the waterfront, build an Arena, a new\u00a0relief\u00a0road, or a large mixed use development<\/a>, you know, flats and shops and workspaces and all….<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Well I\u00a0believe\u00a0at the root of the problem is the misguided\u00a0believe\u00a0that it is <\/span><\/strong>all about the economy. \u00a0That the economy is a puzzle to be solved that is disconnected from other aspects of how we choose to live. \u00a0If we can just get the economy right – then the rest will surely fall into place. \u00a0I\u00a0think\u00a0that even if we did ‘just get the economy right’ we would be in no danger of\u00a0approaching\u00a0utopia any time soon. \u00a0 \u00a0A growing economy seems at least as much progress trap<\/a> as progress. \u00a0\u00a0Even if we could run ‘the economy’ in a way that delivered ‘no more boom and bust’ I really don’t believe that it alone help us to achieve the ‘better’ communities that we crave. \u00a0We have been throwing cash at our most deprived communities for decades and progress remains slow.<\/p>\n

When we treat the economy as a closed system, as some kind of sacred cow two inter-related problems occur.<\/p>\n

Firstly we start to treat human beings as ‘factors of production’ that we can manipulate and influence for the good of the economy. \u00a0The anointed <\/a>can encourage us onto our bikes, into big society, or to look at ‘opportunities’ in construction, retail, call centres etc, all in the name of ‘the economy’. \u00a0Volition, aspiration and enterprise are dulled at the service of the economy. \u00a0Just keep your heads down, do as your told, and we will deliver stable economic growth is the message. \u00a0Hardly the recipe for an\u00a0enterprise\u00a0culture.<\/p>\n

The second thing that happens by treating ‘the economy’ as a sacred cow is that the creative tension that lies at the heart of truly inspiring innovation is lost. \u00a0The one-dimensional focus on GVA <\/a> stops us from pondering the really big questions such as:<\/p>\n