Can You Run the Economy?: An interactive adventure inside the Treasury

by Joe Mayes

AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 TODAY

Do you have what it takes to be the Chancellor? Find out in this interactive adventure where YOU are in charge, from award-winning political reporter Joe Mayes.

“This clever, witty book is so much fun to play with. I loved it, right up to the moment that I was stabbed in the back by the Prime Minister.” – TIM HARFORD, bestselling author of The Undercover Economist
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Congratulations!

You’ve just become the Chancellor of the Exchequer – one of the most powerful people in Britain.

The Budget is fast approaching. And as you turn each page, you’ll face dilemmas and tough choices of every kind, including bailing out big business, negotiating with trade unions and managing the media fallout from your Budget choices.

Will you overspend and trigger an economic crisis, or tighten the purse strings too much and crater your party’s approval ratings? Or will you play your cards just right enough to lead your party to victory at the next general election? It’s all up to you.

Are you ready?
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“A political and economic handbook for our age” - MISHAL HUSAIN

“A must-read for armchair Chancellors” - JEREMY HUNT

“A fabulous choose-your-own adventure” - KITTY DONALDSON

“Engaging, and highly readable” - NORMAN LAMONT

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics

339 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2025

Reviews

[Daniel Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novel concept and well executed. Docked marks for some overly simplified description and characterisations of certain policies. I assume the intended audience is probably “the general reader”, rather than a political economy nerd.

[Matt Costello · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clever and accessible introduction to the dilemmas and challenges faced by modern Chancellors and the Treasury. Taking inspiration from real world and live issues facing the UK economy and accurately demonstrates that the Chancellor is really at the mercy of events and sometimes really can’t win whatever they choose. Accurately captures many of the smaller details of how the Treasury operates, demonstrating the strength of the sources.

The ‘choose your own adventure’ format makes the book engaging, but obviously reduces the scope for much nuance. The trade-offs presented are broadly reasonable but make unavoidably political assumptions about cause and effect - particularly with regard to the influence of the media and “the markets” - which readers may take issue with.

[Joe Eaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most entertaining political book I have ever read.

Very much a book you can’t put down as you’re intrigued about what the next decision will lead to in your own story.

The style was definitely written for the layperson and it explained complex topics brilliantly. Well worth a read for anyone interested, and could definitely be finished within a day.

For those interested I ended up with a -6 approval rating and a surplus of +£7.5 billion. Which I was pretty pleased with given a -6 approval rating is like winning the lottery in this political climate. Well, that was until the book said the approval rating was too low and so I had lost the next general election…

I am unsure if it is even possible to get a positive approval rating without breaking the fiscal rules???

[W.S. Luk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rare book that makes you feel sorry for politicians, CAN YOU RUN THE ECONOMY? simulates the life of the Chancellor of the Exchequer as you decide how to handle industrial action, tax cuts, the Budget, and a host of other crises, tracking how your decisions affect the government's budget and your approval ratings—will you leave the economy flourishing, or get booted out of 11 Downing Street? Mayes eschews party politics to focus on problems that test the general principles that any Chancellor will be expected to adhere to, offering a potted introduction to how the British government tries to regulate the economy, and the numerous catch-22 scenarios politicians will have to find inevitably unsatisfactory answers to. A cast of characters with punny names (defence secretary Milly Terry, trade unionists Charlie Marks and Fred Angel) and an insider's-eye-view of how Westminster works keeps this book informative and entertaining in equal parts, and allows you to have plenty of fun trying to run the economy from your armchair.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! I loved it! The interactions and reasoning behind everything were really well thought out. I didn’t realize I was learning about economics and political science.