Douglas McWilliams

Prosperity Through Growth is a primer for reviving the UK economy, co-authored by some of our finest economic minds: celebrated US economist Dr Arthur B. Laffer, inventor of the Laffer curve; policy campaigner Matthew Elliott; businessman Michael Hintze; and founder of the Centre for Economics and Business Research Douglas McWilliams. It begins by setting out the principles of ideal economic policy - the 'North Star' of prosperity through growth - and applies them to the UK's current position. The thinking takes account of the age of autocracy and AI, in which political decisions in democracies are constrained and talented and entrepreneurial people are increasingly mobile, making economic incentives even more important. The final section draws on interviews with more than thirty economic decision-makers from the worlds of business, politics and the civil service, including five Prime Ministers and nine Chancellors. The interviews give insights into the economic and political causes of low growth and provide a strategy for implementing a pro-growth agenda. Specially commissioned research shows how the UK is forecast to slide down the league table of GDP per capita over the next twenty-five years. The book argues that such a slide is not inevitable and outlines a fully costed and modelled '24/7 Growth Plan' to show how the decline can be averted.

In his illuminating new book, Douglas McWilliams argues that inequality is largely driven not by a conspiracy of the rich, as Thomas Piketty suggests, but by technology and globalization that have led to the paradox of rising inequality even as worldwide poverty drops. But what are the implications of this seeming contradiction, and what ultimately drives the global distribution of wealth? What can societies do to reshape capitalism for the 21st century? Drawing on the latest research, McWilliams investigates how wealth is concentrated and why it persistently remains in the hands of very few. In accessible and thought-provoking prose, McWilliams poses a comprehensive theory on why capitalism has not met its match in the form of increasingly disparate income distribution, but warns of the coming wave of technological development—the fourth industrial revolution—that threatens to create a scarcity of unskilled jobs that will lead to even greater inequality and explains what governments can do to prepare for this. From the inquisitive layperson to the professional economist or policymaker, The Inequality Paradox is essential reading for understanding the global economy in its present state. McWilliams is a fresh, authoritative voice entering the global discussion, making this book indispensable in preparing for the imminent economic challenges of our changing world.