Creative Destruction: How to Start an Economic Renaissance

by Phil Mullan

Overview

What has caused the leading economies of the Western world to stagnate, and what can be done to extricate them from this prolonged economic slump? Much has been written in answer to these two vital questions, but as economist Phil Mullān argues, the conventional answers have gotten both cause and solution all wrong. Tackling both the decay and the resilience of the major Western economies over the past four decades, Creative Destruction shows that a new industrial and technological revolution coupled with economic restructuring are required to escape from economic atrophy. Bringing to bear years of experience working in senior management positions within global companies, Mullān offers an innovative new perspective on political economy that brings the economic crisis back to basics: how did the West lose its economic dynamism, and how can it be regained?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447336112
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2017
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Phil Mullān is an economist, business manager, and director of Epping Consulting, UK. He is the author of The Imaginary Time Bomb: Why an Ageing Population Is Not a Social Problem.

Table of Contents

List of figures and boxes iv

List of abbreviations vi

Acknowledgements viii

Introduction: A decade after the Western financial crisis 1

Part I The state we're in 17

1 Decay and resilience 19

2 Productivity in decline 31

3 Innovation puzzles 61

4 Why investment matters 81

Part II The Long Depression 105

5 The problem of profitability 107

6 The end of growth 129

Part III How we got stuck 147

7 Contained depression 149

8 The zombie economy 157

9 The intellectual crisis of capitalism 185

10 Discomfort with change 211

11 The appeal of muddling through 227

12 The limits of muddling through 247

Part IV The way out 263

13 Escaping the Long Depression 265

Notes 289

References 311

Index 333

Editorial Reviews

"Mullān . . . propose[s] a creative solution, while at the same time explaining some basic concepts . . . , thus allowing anyone to read his book."

Market Plus

"Of the hundreds of economic books published since the financial crisis began, this is the most important and insightful in making sense of the travails of twenty-first-century capitalism and pointing towards a possible escape from the stasis Mullān calls the 'Zombie Economy.'"

Spiked

"Mullān is right that more productive cooperation between government and business is part of the answer for achieving sustainable growth."

Vicky Pryce

"A tour-de-force call for a new industrial revolution and a rallying cry for the zombie economy to be stabbed in the neck to enable a truly productive future."

Lesley Curwen

"After Brexit the economic question is back with a vengeance. Mullān’s case for public-led political change is timely and essential."

Bruno Waterfield

"A wide ranging and thorough diagnosis of the  problems besetting the UK economy."

Philip Sadler CBE

"Deserves to be read by political leaders of all stripes and corporate leaders of all kinds. It clearly shows the need for daring economic thinking rather than incremental adjustments to create the hitherto elusive new economy and could not have appeared at a more opportune moment in light of the popular economic discontent now sweeping America and Europe. No one can afford to ignore the author's bold vision."

Iwan Morgan

"An excellent study of the malaise plaguing western economies. Mullān provides a bold call for strategy of economic disruption in order to lay the foundation for a twenty-first-century industrial revolution."

Frank Furedi

"With clarity and originality, Mullān’s book—packed with serious analysis and a wealth of references—is much more than a brilliant description of zombie capitalism. It bravely challenges fatalistic orthodoxies and not only helps us all to understand economic stasis but even better, it is packed with ideas about how to change it."

Claire Fox

"Mullān explains how western economies can embark on a new growth wave after the financial crisis. A very challenging and stimulating analysis."

Andrew Sentance