Weekend Reading / in case you missed it

What were we reading about this week in the UK

The UK’s governing Conservative Party has little to be optimistic about presently, trailing Labour significantly in the polls and with a general election on the horizon. As the party gathers in Manchester for it’s annual conference however, some solace can be taken by further revisions to official data from the Office for National Statistics, which reveals that, despite earlier estimates to the contrary, the UK economy rebounded strongly from the pandemic, beating neighbours France and Germany.??

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/29/uk-economy-makes-stronger-recovery-from-pandemic-than-first-thought-germany-france

As political and economics journalist continue to reflect on the first anniversary of former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s ‘mini-budget’, this column in the Financial Times takes a look at the importance of timing in politics.

https://www.ft.com/content/210ad29d-5071-4132-a0ec-5af93647dc0f?

Brining back memories of the mini-budget, this week also saw the pound slip to six-month lows on Forex markets. But with the economy performing better than expected, why is the pound heading south? This article in The Telegraph from earlier in the week gives a useful overview.?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/09/27/pound-falling-euro-dollar-inflation-interest-rates-sunak/?

What were we reading about this week in the US

With populist uprisings push-back against the economic status-quo having dominated the last several years of politics in the Western world, this article in Project Syndicate argues that the economic orthodoxy of the last 50 years is no longer applicable. We should lay Chicago school economics to rest, according to the author.?

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chicago-school-economics-rational-agent-a-myth-by-antara-haldar-2023-09?

With the Federal Reserve having achieved, according the latest economic data, it’s planned ‘soft landing’ designed to mitigate the worst impacts of economic turbulence, you’d think American voters would be feeling sanguine. The opposite seems to be true however, and this article from Reuters asks why Americans are so bad about the economy.?

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elusive-fed-soft-landing-nears-why-are-americans-so-mad-about-economy-2023-09-26/

In this article for the Financial Times, Lina Khan, President and Chief Executive of the American Investment Council challenges recent US policy which she says amounts to a ‘power grab’, which threatens the US’s reputation as an investment destination.?

https://www.ft.com/content/79117c1b-7a1f-411a-8472-d41f8539fad7?