Britain’s gross domestic product dropped back at the end of 2012 and the economy did not grow at all over the year. Is there anything that can be done to lift us out of this stagnation, David Smith asks.
Every three months the official statisticians – the Office of National Statistics (ONS) – give a verdict on the economy’s performance over the previous quarter. Few people can have failed to notice its latest verdict that the economy contracted by 0.3% in the final quarter of 2012.
This completed what can only be described as a disappointing year for Britain’s economy measured by gross domestic product. Apart from the third quarter when the Olympics and a bounce-back from the Jubilee-affected second quarter produced a 0.9% GDP jump...
