March 16, 2016, by Pauline
Money, money, money – it’s Budget day!
Feeling flush? Will you tonight?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, will be presenting the Budget statement to the House of Commons today. How much will your beer go up or down?
Last year there were two budgets (pre- and post- general election). You can revisit the March and Summer budgets online, or you can find the official budget reports in Hallward Library Documents Division. You can even watch old budgets on Box of Broadcasts (a cure for insomnia?), or for some more humorous political entertainment, maybe try Yes, Minister.
There is a ‘wealth’ of books and journals in the Library to stimulate your fiscal thoughts. For example:
- Maybe the Chancellor should read Austerity: the history of a dangerous idea by Mark Blyth (Hallward Library HJ8015.B5).
- For a historical view, you could search The Economist Historical Archive. An article about the 1850 budget tells of the Chancellor of the Exchequer paying off the national debt, sound familiar?
- You can find out more about the budgetary process in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- A new online resource Discussion Papers of the Centre for Economic Policy Research provides some interesting papers on fiscal policy.
- To research more deeply why not try the EconLit database. It covers a wide range of economics related literature, including both economic theory and application.
HM Treasury (https://flic.kr/p/9sWfrn). Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0 Licence
Did you know?
“The word Budget derives from a French word ‘bougette’ meaning little bag. It became tradition to bring the financial statement in a leather bag to the House of Commons. The modern equivalent of the bag is the red despatch box or Budget box.”
This and more budgetary facts are available on the UK Parliament website.
Let’s hope today’s budget brings some good news for us all …
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