Abstract
Towards the end of his time at the Treasury, Godley devised a series of improvements to the Survey Committee (PESC) planning process, mainly to remove anomalies in the ‘survey prices’ used to convert future years’ spending plans into current prices when they arrive. Returning to the Treasury from the DAE as a consultant, he finds former colleagues struggling with these adjustments, especially on multi-year capital projects. Tensions erupt when his calculation of a consequent £5bn overspend under the 1970–1974 government, put to a parliamentary Select Committee, appears in the press. They subside enough for Godley and Cripps to advise on the 1976 local government financing review, where they find themselves back on the Treasury’s side. But Godley and the CEPG are thereafter treated with caution by Chancellor Denis Healey, who blames the Treasury for an excessively loose first budget which forces subsequent tightening, as the external deficit renews pressure on the pound. And Godley goes against the grain again when, with King’s College colleague Adrian Wood, he refutes the business case for tax relief on gains from stock appreciation.
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Shipman, A. (2019). Public Expenditure Revisited. In: Wynne Godley. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12289-8_7
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