Follow the Money, Paul Johnson
Follow the Money, Paul Johnson
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
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Follow the Money
'Gripping and horrifying... witty and brilliant. Buy it' The Times

Author: Paul Johnson

Narrator: Rich Keeble

Unabridged: 9 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/23/2023


Synopsis

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'This is a brilliant book. Buy it, read it and weep' The Times

'The antidote to naivety that our political class needs' Sunday Times, Book of the Week

'A treasure trove of killer facts' Guardian

'Read it, absorb it, and understand how the country works' Laura Kuenssberg

'If you want to understand why crazy politics routinely trumps economic rationality in government choices, read this' Robert Peston

Paul Johnson and the enormously respected Institute for Fiscal Studies aim to hold Government to account - without which politicians will get away with their half-truths, elisions and dubious claims. This is a forensic examination - by the man best placed to do so - of the way the state raises and spends £1 trillion of our money every year. To follow the money. To provide an explanation, of where that money comes from and where it goes to, how that has changed and how it needs to change.

Government decisions determine the welfare of the poor and the elderly, the state of the health service, the effectiveness of our children's education, and how prepared we are for the future: whether that is a pandemic or global warming. As a society, we are a reflection of what the government spends.

Johnson looks at what happened following the financial crisis of 2008-09 and the austerity years that followed. He examines the way that the government tackled the economy during Covid - when the UK budget shot up to over a trillion for the first time - and he analyses prospects for our future as we grapple with looming recession and the cost of living crisis.

About Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson has been Director of the IFS since January 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London. Paul has worked and published extensively on the economics of public policy, with a particular focus on income distribution, public finances, pensions, tax, social security, education and climate change. He was awarded a CBE for services to the social sciences and economics in 2018. As well as a previous period of work at the IFS his career has included spells at HM Treasury, the Department for Education and the FSA. Between 2004 and 2007 he was deputy head of the Government Economic Service. Paul Johnson is currently also a member of the committee on climate change and the Banking Standards Board.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mervyn on March 15, 2023

I bought this after reading Larry Elliot's review in The Observer. Elliot's review said the book was a bit dry and lacking in anecdotes. Although it does lack anecdotes, it certainly isn't dry. But I did find it a tad more basic than I was expecting. I'm sure when the book was commissioned Johnson a......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on January 02, 2024

I was given this for Christmas after having requesting it. I was not disappointed. I have been reading, listening & watching Paul Johnson for many years. He is one of our foremost economic commentators. He has worked in the upper reaches of the civil service & then in the think tank world mainly for......more

Goodreads review by Catriona on December 24, 2024

Learnt some things! Better understand the urgency for council tax reform and did not realise how sorely outdated the basis for funding allocations between councils is. The points on further education felt esp relevant as well. A bit of a chore to finish - probably didn’t help that I started reading......more

Goodreads review by Rob on March 13, 2025

The book comes highly recommended, it's a huge achievement and should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in politics, or the broader issue of financing and running the country. The astonishing thing about a book that is largely down from data that anyone can download free from the Internet is......more

Goodreads review by Trevor on February 07, 2024

Author Paul Johnson is, of course, the much-respected Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which seeks to hold the government to account on matters of tax and spend. This is a fascinating and very readable account of the taxes we pay and how the government spends them – you will not be......more


Quotes

This book is the antidote to naivety that our political class needs. Anyone, in fact, who has strong views about how society should be run would benefit from reading it, because every political ambition costs money and as Johnson writes, "someone has to pay for all this"... The story he tells may leave you reeling... Johnson's buoyant yet acerbic style will keep you engaged. The sobering realities he lays out are peppered with entertaining asides Book of the Week, Sunday Times

So gripping and horrifying that it should probably come with a trigger warning: readers may find the content concerning the state of their country's governance upsetting... Given its subject matter, the book is a surprisingly easy read. That's thanks to Johnson's clear, witty prose. Few other writers could produce such a palatable explanation of the system of local government finance or make their readers guffaw over the details of VAT collection... This is a brilliant book. Buy it, read it and weep The Times

Erudite and informative New Statesman

A treasure trove of killer facts Guardian

Follow the Money is essential reading Tortoise Media

Read it, absorb it, and understand how the country works. Johnson uses his talent for crunching the complex into the comprehensible to produce a cheerfully skeptical guide to the British state, revealing it's wisdom and idiocy, and where our money really goes. Laura Kuenssberg

This is an important book by the economist who has set the terms of so much political debate over the past decade. If you want to understand why crazy politics routinely trumps economic rationality in government choices, read this. Robert Peston

Paul Johnson - the oracle of fiscal - has provided the perfect guide through this dense thicket of fiscal facts and fictions, both explaining the hard choices we now face and why, as citizens, it matters that we understand and act wisely when making them Andy Haldane

Fire and passion, combined with the facts. Every politician should get a copy, as the tales of short-sighted, election-fixated, cowardly decision-making are so depressing. And your way forward looks so blindingly sensible. Polly Toynbee

Readable and entertaining... Johnson pulls no punches in his new book on the public finances which charts Government public policy failures Municipal Journal