The Economic Constitution by Tony Prosser [Book review]

Abstract

In this book, Tony Prosser sets out to provide an account of areas of the British constitution which have been neglected in public law and other areas of academic study, particularly those concerned with economic management. The book focuses on the different methods and institutions directly utilized by the government, rather than through the establishment of separate agencies, such as utility regulators (with the exception of a consideration of financial services regulation partially carried out by independent agencies). The book has two main objectives. One is to map out the intricate networks that are involved in the devising and implementing of economic policy, and to examine their coherence and their abilities to communicate and cooperate; both of which, Prosser argues, were deeply challenged during the 2008 financial crisis. The second is to assess the legitimacy and accountability of those arrangements as they work in practice. Those two main objectives are addressed in the following areas of economic management and their associated, relevant major institutions: taxation and borrowing, public expenditure, monetary policy, regulation of financial services, including banks, government shareholdings and industrial policy, and public procurement.