Low growth has become the economic default in the West. While China and other Asian Tigers continue to steam ahead, western commentators either argue that stagnation is inevitable, ignoring growth in order to focus on other factors such as inflation or inequality, or disclaim growth altogether.

In Why the West is Failing, veteran businessman and economist John Mills strongly refutes these arguments. He maintains that the anaemic performance of western economies since the 1970s is due to the dominance of a policy framework that has fatally ignored the importance of industrial competitiveness. He shows that the key to driving up productivity – and thereby growth – is to promote a revival of manufacturing through investment and a competitive exchange rate policy. This would produce the extra resources needed to tackle climate change and reduce the risk of western politics continuing to spiral towards populist excess. It would also allow us to impede the baleful political consequences of Chinese economic domination.

"Attempts to level up Britain will be in vain unless there is a revival of the manufacturing base and an improvement in the balance of trade, which has now been in deficit for four decades. In this provocative book, John Mills lays out a plan for how this much-needed renaissance might happen."
Larry Elliott, The Guardian

"If ever there was a time for new economic solutions and fresh ideas, it is now. Mills is one of the few economic thinkers to present the bold ideas needed to lift Britain out of economic crisis. His book has the big thinking this country needs."
Rt Hon. Caroline Flint, former Government Minister

John Mills is Founder and Charmain of JML, Director of the Institute for Prosperity and former Chair of Labour Leave.