On 20th February 2024, Charles Goodhart joined Olivier Blanchard and Sir Dieter Helm to give evidence before an Economic Affairs Committee inquiry seeking to discuss how sustainable the UK national debt is.
Among the questions asked were those on the importance of debt, such as: should the UK be worried about the current levels of debt in the UK and across the G7, is international context relevant to thinking about the urgency in the UK of reducing the primary deficit - but also about net zero and the impact of the transition on debt sustainability.
A recurring idea in the discussion was that interest rates are a key variable in the debt-sustainability equation. In this context, Prof. Goodhart's 2017 work with Manoj Pradhan was referenced, and Charles was given an opportunity to provide an updated version of his views, in light of more recent developments since the publication of this work. Some of these views are also included in a recent opinion piece written by Prof. Goodhart for LSE Blogs: Liz Truss’s premiership was the canary in the coalmine.
You can watch the video of the discussion or read the transcript from the Parliament's website.
Other media outlets which have reported on the conversation can be found below:
