Max King: Why is growth so slow?

UK ECONOMY

More than three years after the credit crisis, the rate of growth of developed economies is still sluggish.

Normally, economies recover rapidly from recessions as businesses, having cut investment, output and employment, find they have under-estimated the trend of demand and rush to take advantage of new opportunities. This time, it is different with UK growth estimated at below 1% for 2011 and forecast to be just 0.8% in 2012. Inevitably, there are excuses. More than 47% of UK exports are to the eurozone so the continuing crisis there is holding the UK back. The UK government, in the interests of restoring long term fiscal stability, is cutting expenditure and raising taxes. Consumers, hav...