The accusation is widely made that Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters have moved to the extreme left on economic policy. But this is not supported by the candidate’s statements or policies.

His opposition to austerity is actually mainstream economics, even backed by the conservative IMF. He aims to boost growth and prosperity. He voted against the shameful £12bn in cuts in the welfare bill.

Despite the barrage of media coverage to the contrary, it is the current government’s policy and its objectives which are extreme. The attempt to produce a balanced public sector budget primarily through cuts to spending failed in the previous parliament. Increasing child poverty and cutting support for the most vulnerable is unjustifiable. Cutting government investment in the name of prudence is wrong because it prevents growth, innovation and productivity increases, which are all much needed by our economy, and so over time increases the debt due to lower tax receipts.

We the undersigned are not all supporters of Jeremy Corbyn. But we hope to clarify just where the “extremism” lies in the current economic debate.

Yours,



David Blanchflower

Bruce V Rauner professor of economics, Dartmouth and Stirling, ex-member of the MPC

Mariana Mazzucato

Professor, Sussex

Grazia Ietto-Gillies

Emeritus professor, London South Bank University

Malcolm Walker

Emeritus professor, Leeds

Robert Wade

Professor, LSE

Michael Burke

Economist

Steve Keen

Professor, Kingston University London

Victoria Chick

Emeritus professor, UCL

Anna Coote

NEF personal capacity

Ozlem Onaran

Professor, Greenwich

Andrew Cumbers

Professor, Glasgow

Tina Roberts

Economist

Dr Suzanne J Konzelmann

Birkbeck

Tanweer Ali

Lecturer, New York

John Weeks

Professor, SOAS

Marco Veronese Passarella

Lecturer, University of Leeds

Dr Judith Heyer

Emeritus Fellow, Somerville College, Oxford

Dr Jerome De-Henau

Senior lecturer, Open University

Stefano Lucarelli

Professor, University of Bergamo

Paul Hudson

Formerly Universität Wissemburg-Halle

Mario Seccareccia

Professor, Ottawa

Dr Pritam Singh

Professor, Oxford Brookes

Arturo Hermann

Senior research fellow at Istat, Rome

Dr John Roberts

Brunel

Cyrus Bina

Professor, Minnesota

Alan Freeman

Retired former economist

George Irvin

Professor, SOAS

Susan Pashkoff

Economist

Radhika Desai

Professor, University of Manitoba

Diego Sánchez-Ancochea

Associate professor, University of Oxford

Guglielmo Forges Davanzati

Associate professor, University of Salento

Jeanette Findlay

Senior lecturer, Glasgow

Raphael Kaplinsky

Emeritus professor, Open University

John Ross

Socialist Economic Bulletin

Steven Hail

Adjunct lecturer, University of Adelaide

Louis-Philippe Rochon

Associate professor, Laurentian

Hilary Wainwright

Editor, Red Pepper

Arturo Hermann

Senior researcher, ISAE, Rome

Joshua Ryan-Collins

NEF personal capacity

James Medway

Lecturer, City University

Alberto Paloni

Professor, Glasgow

Dr Mary Roberton

Leeds