A Century of Fiscal Squeeze Politics

This book carefully identifies and compares episodes of 'fiscal squeeze' (that is, substantial efforts to cut public spending and/or raise taxes) in the UK over a century from 1900 to 2015. It looks at how different the politics of fiscal squeeze and austerity is today from what it was in earlier decades, how if at all those fiscal squeeze episodes reshaped the state and public services, and how political credit and blame play out in the aftermath of fiscal squeeze. The analysis is both quantitative and qualitative, starting with reported financial outcomes and then looking at the political choices and processes that lie behind those numbers to identify patterns and puzzles that have not been recognised or explained adequately so far in received theory.