The worst financial crisis since the great depression has left politicians scrambling for solutions. It's a tale being played out across Europe to varying degrees. In Britain under the coalition, the policy response has been clear (in theory at least): government spending must be cut, annual deficits slashed and interest rates kept low. The results are inconclusive and unemployment is stubbornly high. So what happens next?
For this podcast, Politics Weekly travels to the TUC's After Austerity conference, where a range of progressive thinkers grappled with the problem.
Larry Elliott discusses employment, education and the role of government with Robert Skidelsky, the cross-bench peer and biographer of John Maynard Keynes.
And Tom Clark is joined by Nicola Smith of the TUC and Dean Baker of the CEPR thinktank to discuss why the gains of the past three decades have accrued mainly to the wealthiest section of society.
Plus we hear ideas from Ha-Joon Chang and others on what the government could do now to help get the economy growing sustainably once more.
