Britain is experiencing "its first lost decade since 1860", according to the Bank of England's governor Mark Carney, says the Daily Telegraph.
In a speech in Liverpool that The Times says "amounted to a manifesto for a new capitalism", Carney also warned that over the past ten years "real earnings have grown at the slowest rate since the mid-19th century".
The Canadian financier warned of a growing backlash against globalisation, which for many have become "associated with low wages, insecure employment, stateless corporations and striking inequalities".
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But this was not an argument against globalisation or free trade – far from it. Carney said it would be "a tragedy" if the western world turned "our backs on open markets".
In the wake of the Brexit vote, the election of Donald Trump and the recent referendum defeat of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, he said politicians had to foster "a globalisation that works for all".
Governments must "redistribute some of the gains from trade and technology", as well as drive productivity improvements through, for example, upskilling workers.
More pressingly, and to restore "trust" in the system, governments need to tackle the rise of "stateless corporations" – and ensure that companies are "rooted and pay tax somewhere".
Given his clash in the summer with Theresa May, Carney's comments could be seen as confrontational. This is especially true of one passage of his speech, where he defended central bank policy since the financial crisis.
Carney said that if the Bank of England had not dropped interest rates to near-zero – and held them there for nine years and counting – 1.5 million more people would be unemployed and real wages would be £2,000 a year lower.
"The data do not support the idea that the period of low rates has benefited the wealthiest at the expense of the least wealthy," he said.
"All monetary policy has distributional effects, but it is rightly the role of elected governments to take measures to offset them if they so choose."
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