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Samuel Brittan has been an economic commentator on the Financial Times since 1966. Prior to this he was economics editor of the Observer (1961-64) and an adviser at the Department of Economic Affairs (1965).
His most recent books are Against the Flow (2005), Capitalism with a Human Face (1995) and Essays, Moral, Political and Economic (1998). He is an honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and an honorary Doctor of Letters (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh). He has been visiting professor at the Chicago Law School, a visting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, and an honorary professor of politics at Warwick.
He has been awarded the George Orwell, Senior Harold Wincott and Ludwig Erhard prizes. He was a member of the Peacock Committee on the Finance of the BBC (1985-86). He was knighted in 1993 for “services to economic journalism” and also that year became a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. His column appears on alternate Fridays. - -
Changing government is never easy
The problem when the ruling party might be voted out is how much contact the civil service has with the opposition while continuing to serve the government , says Samuel Brittan
Simple truths about the economy
The hole in the world economy can only be filled by deficit spending by the stronger western governments. If this is inhibited by fiscal tightening, recovery will be strangled, writes.Samuel Brittan
Freedom for Sale
John Kampfner studies the US, Italy, Russia, China and India as he attacks the thesis that capitalism leads to personal and political freedom, writes Samuel Brittan
Goodbye to the pre-crisis trend line
The latest IMF World Economic Outlook points out that much of the loss of output in a severe recession is permanent, writes Samuel Brittan
Whatever happened to imbalances?
In dollar terms the sums seemed huge. In relative terms they are less frightening. At their 2008 peak, on IMF estimates, global imbalances amounted to 2½ per cent of world gross national product, writes Samuel Brittan
A cool look at the current deficit hysteria
In the early Victorian period the debt ratio was nearly 200 per cent and almost reached that level again in the early 1920s, notes Samuel Brittan
Worse evils exist than corruption
Politicians and officials in emerging economies are estimated to receive bribes of between $20bn and $40bn annually, writes Samuel Brittan
We do not prosper by income or happiness alone
It is worth removing specific injustices on a piecemeal basis even if it is impossible to construct a perfectly just society or even agree on what such a society would look like, writes Samuel Brittan
The key to Keynes
Samuel Brittan on two books that search the famous economist’s doctrines for hints on how to tackle the biggest threat to capitalism since the Great Depression
Why the case for assisted dying is unanswerable
The main reason it is so difficult to reform the law is that those on the fundamentalist side will be prepared to base their votes on this issue, while humanist utilitarians will see it as only one of many issues, writes Samuel Brittan
