We were delighted to welcome Jonathan Isaby this week, who addressed the Society in a talk at Trinity College on the relevance of the national debt and the budget deficit to students. The talk, entitled “Generation Screwed”, was very insightful in explaining why we as a generation are particularly burdened with the debt. Even the best interview format writing sometimes is not enough to cover all the necessary details, as it takes at least a few articles to explain

Mr. Isaby put it to us that it is prudent to seek to manage government budgets at whatever level, be it local council or national, in the same way as we would seek to manage our own household budget: balancing the best quality with the best price, rather than the tendency of public spending to be unconcerned with both cost and quality of public service provision.

Public choice theory and that personal and government spending may involve similar considerations were novel concepts for some in attendance. It was therefore a pleasure to see many people of a variety of political persuasions were in attendance to hear these concepts explained for the first time and that all had the opportunity to ask questions, with some who advocated greater borrowing and spending challenging Mr. Isaby’s position. Hence we had a very stimulating discussion with all hearing both sides of the debate.

We would like to thank Mr. Isaby for a very interesting evening and would be delighted if he would address us again in future.

Pictured is Jonathan Isaby speaking to the Hayek Society and the Taxpayers’ Alliance’s “Generation Screwed” student protest outside the Bank of England in March 2015, with those in attendance displaying the value of the national debt.