Economic models and economic policy: what economic forecasters can do for government

This chapter presents a sociological perspective on the use of knowledge generated by macroeconomic models in policy-making.1 It is not therefore about the institutions which support and produce macroeconomic modelling research but about the social processes through which economic knowledge is produced, validated and used. My empirical window on this interaction between economic models, knowledges and policies, is the UK government’s Panel of Independent Forecasters. Appointed to advise the Chancellor of the Exchequer after the UK’s exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1992, the Panel of Independent Forecasters brought together a diverse group of economic forecasters and asked them to produce policy recommendations for the Chancellor.