The Hidden Wealth of Nations [Paperback]

If you are an addict of the recent outpourings of the happiness gurus (Layard, Oswald et al) and the behavioural economists, but wondered how their findings might translate into practical policies, this book takes the key next step. Written by ex-Prime Minister's Strategy Unit Chief Analyst, David Halpern - but of interest to future governments of any persuasion, this book takes a look behind conventional policy appraoches to look at the things that really make somewhere a place worth living. Conventional economics has no place for trust or relationships - the Hidden Wealth of the title, and little place for unremunerated transactions - Halpenr's economy of regard rather than of money. But by missing these key dimensions out of policy making ( taking the Treasiry's narrow account of what matters as the only game in town) policy-makers deliver solutions that don't work in the real waorld and miss opportunities to go with the grain of human nature and offer more effective ways of advnacing wellebing. The book also delves into what we really mean by equality - goign well beyond the standard focus solely on income inequalities and offers some interesting ideas for how to tackle one of the perpetual weakspots of the British economy and British Society.

At the end David Halpern comes up with a list of ten things he would do if he were Prime Minister. An interesting benchmark for the manifestos that will start popping up in a few month's time. Read it now to be able to be part of that debate.

David Halpern's aim in this book is to argue that for decades there has been too much focus on economic growth and not enough attention paid to the alternative 'economy of respect.' To those who've been following politics and policy, the shift of attention towards social capital, well-being or happiness, and co-production of services will come as little new. Halpern does, however, do a good job of connecting a lot of different dots to form one larger - if not entirely clear - picture.

I ordered this book because I'm a lecturer in political philosophy. I found its subject interesting, particularly on fairness and participation, but few of the ideas were new to me - I'm already familiar, for example, with proposals for stakeholder grants (Ackerman) and deliberative opinion polling (Fishkin). It's true that this is a book that seeks to go beyond blue skies ideas to policy implementation, but sadly I found it lacking in this respect. The information about exactly what's been tried and found to work is patchy - many of the policy recommendations simply seem to be Halpern's personal preferences. Sadly, this seems to be a general failing of the book. For an academic book on this subject, the notes and references are few. Some of Halpern's assertions are backed by citations, but quite often he simply asserts the existence of evidence for some recommendation without directing the reader to its whereabouts.

Perhaps its unfair to apply rigorous academic standards to such a work, obviously written for a wider audience. Maybe this book has value, if it serves to popularise some of the ideas it reproduces, but I doubt it will reach a particularly wide audience. There are plenty of graphs and tables, supposedly providing empirical evidence for a number of points, but they're rarely explained. And if you don't have a clue what Halpern's alluding to when he refers, for example, to Burkean ideas of representation then you're likely to be lost at times.

I'd consider myself left-wing and sympathetic to many of Halpern's arguments. I did learn something from this book and its has encouraged me to think about how the state should, for example, strive to prevent crime before it happens, rather than tackling it after the fact, and how political interventions can best be targeted. However, I didn't find this book as satisfying as I would have liked. It flits around between many seemingly unrelated themes, all somehow part of the 'hidden wealth' never clearly defined. Moreover, despite being a Labour sympathiser, I found Halpern's frequent references to his time working for Blair grating. It seems to me that much of this work is an attempt at self-justification for Blairite policies. Maybe they were indeed on the right track, but I'd want to hear that from someone impartial, rather than someone responsible for devising them.

Overall, while there are some good insights in here, I found it disappointing. Now, it's questionable whether I'm really in the target market. I certainly have an interest in politics and policy and a progressive mindset, so I'd have thought so. Perhaps though my disappointment lies largely in the fact that little here is new to me and that it doesn't live up to scholarly standards. Perhaps, for the politically interested layperson, this would be a more informative and interesting read and translate some of the abstract political theory into an implementable policy agenda.

Political economy theories can be victims of their own popularity, and David Halpern's work could be an example of this.

About ten year's ago Robert Putnam's 'social capital' thesis was very much in vogue in Westminster village, but actually delivered very little when faced with the reality of trying to achieve measurable change through social policy.

Sonething similar may be happening with Halpern's not entirely dissimilar thesis on the importance of people getting along - Halpern has been brought into Number 10 Downing Street but the effects of his work in the reality of frontline delivery hasn't been discernible.