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Public Expenditure

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Abstract

The main purpose of short-term forecasting is to help Chancellors set the annual budget. But Godley quickly discovers the extent to which this can be undermined by the inability to anticipate expenditure, only half of which is under direct Treasury control. Above him, Treasury undersecretary Richard ‘Otto’ Clarke tackles the problem by taking a leading role in the Plowden Committee, which recommends major changes to public expenditure management in 1961. Central to these is an extension of forecasts to five years under the Public Expenditure Survey Committee (PESC) process. Hopes of more accurate longer-term projections form the basis of new attempts to boost UK growth through indicative planning, for which the Conservatives lay the foundation in 1961–1962.

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Shipman, A. (2019). Public Expenditure. In: Wynne Godley. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12289-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12289-8_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-12288-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-12289-8

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

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