ABSTRACT
The nature of economic policy Economic policy seeks to achieve objectives such as a high rate of growth, a low and stable rate of infl ation and high levels of employment. Th ese objectives are important to governments both for their own sake and because they infl uence their chances of re-election. Some critics would question the desirability of a high rate of economic growth as a primary objective because of its eff ects on the environment, particularly on tackling climate change. Th ey would argue that, in any case, conventional measures of national income such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita are not a good measure of happiness or wellbeing. However, with the economy fl atlining aft er the GFC, the need for growth became more evident.
