ABSTRACT
Concerns about the United Kingdom’s economic health have been fairly prevalent in the public debate over the course of the past decades, and have often been more openly voiced than in other European economies. Viewed with an economist’s mindset, any such debate is an important input into economic policy-making. What is curious about the discussion surrounding the UK economy, though, is its distinctive concern with external aspects of the UK’s economic performance. Be it the value of sterling, the spectre of outsourcing to emerging markets, eroding competitiveness, or the UK’s balance of payments—in few advanced economies does the general thrust of the economic debate show such a clear recognition of the country’s interdependence with the global economy as in the UK.
