Press release

Compassionate Economics

Thursday 27 November 2008

Compassionate Economics: The Social Foundations of Economic Prosperity by Jesse Norman
Published by Policy Exchange and the University of Buckingham Press on 1 December 2008, paperback, £12.99, ISBN 978-1-906097-26-4

Join the debate to mark the publication of Jesse Norman's new book.

When? 3 December 2008, 18:00 - 19:30
Where? The Ideas Space, Clutha House, 10 Storey's Gate, London SW1P 3AY

Joining the author for the discussion will be:

Jon Cruddas MP, erstwhile challenger for the Labour deputy leadership and standard-bearer for the new Left
John Redwood MP, Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Professor Julian Le Grand, Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Compassionate Conservatism explained where the New Conservatism came from. Compassionate Economics explains where it is going. As the world's financial system totters and Britain faces recession, we need a far richer debate about the nature, the power and the limitations of capitalism.

This is the call for action in a highly personal book by Jesse Norman, author of the agenda-setting Compassionate Economics, which will be published by Policy Exchange and the University of Buckingham Press on Monday 1 December.

Norman's 2006 book Compassionate Conservatism was acclaimed as "the intellectual guidebook to Cameronism". Now Compassionate Economics re-examines the fundamental drivers of economic prosperity and social wellbeing, and sets out a new economic agenda for the centre-right – and perhaps for a future Cameron government. In his book, Jesse Norman:

shows how British government is still stuck in an outdated textbook view of economics with disastrous policy results.
analyses the dire consequences of this "rigor mortis economics" in the benefits system and in public service delivery – and its negative effects on the present banking crisis.
explains how the currently fashionable "happiness theory" is in fact a blind alley, which actually reinforces bad policy.
and, crucially, fleshes out a new centre-right economic agenda for the 21st century.

Jesse Norman is Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange, adviser to the Shadow Cabinet and Conservative parliamentary candidate. He has been called "one of the brightest young Tory minds" by the Daily Telegraph and '"a leading member of a new generation of Conservative thinkers and writers" by the Social Market Foundation.

Comment on Compassionate Conservatism

"The book everyone in Westminster is talking about", The Observer
"Superb", Andrew Sullivan, US political commentator and noted blogger
"A glimpse of the future of British Conservatism", Adrian Wooldridge, co-author of The Right Nation
"At once profound and accessible, this book is rewarding reading for anyone interested in political ideas, and indispensable to those on the centre right. It provides the first philosophical definition of the new 21st Century conservatism", Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph columnist and biographer of Lady Thatcher.

About Jesse Norman

Jesse Norman is Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange, and one of the intellectual architects of the new Conservatism. A former Director at Barclays, he left the City of London in 1997 to research and teach at University College London. He was educated at Oxford University (BA) and at UCL (MPhil, PhD), where he holds an honorary research fellowship in philosophy. Jesse also has a twenty-year track record of full- and part-time work in the voluntary sector, and is a Trustee of the Roundhouse and of the Hay Festival. In December 2006 he was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hereford and South Herefordshire. He has also written widely in the national press, including The Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, The Independent on Sunday and The Spectator, and has appeared on BBC 1, BBC News 24, Sky News, Start The Week, Any Questions?, The Westminster Hour and Analysis.

Further inquiries

To ensure your place at the debate email: events@policyexchange.org.uk

Please contact Christopher Woodhead at The University of Buckingham Press: christopher.woodhead@buckingham.ac.uk or +44 (0)1280 828338.

Please contact James Bethell at Policy Exchange on +44 (0)20 7340 1052.

Jesse Norman can be contacted at jesse4hereford@gmail.com, on +44 (0)7930 650 164 or via www.jessenorman.com (external link), from which his publications can also be downloaded.