Why we need public spending

Authors: 
David Hall
Date: 
Nov 2010

Public spending plays a vital positive role in economic and social development, contrary to rightwing political views. It supports half the jobs in the world - twice as many in the private sectro as in the public sector - and is crucial for investment in infrastructure, the provision of key services, and creating greatere equality. It is also the main way of financing action on climate change. Deficits have arisen because of the need to deal with the economic crisis, and because companies are failing to pay their fair share of tax burdnen. The IMF's call for deep cuts in spending should be resisted. This is a large report (70 pages, 2.3Mb).