Monopolies hire too many pointless managers and kill off productivity growth

The need to increase productivity is of fundamental importance to the political economy of the Western democracies. As I’ve written, the causes for this slowdown in productivity eludes a consensus. The big tech companies are often seen as hives of innovation. But they might be responsible for at least part of the productivity problem. In […]

The Benefits of Choice: the Battle Never Ends

Do consumer choice and competition between suppliers improve the quality of outcomes for consumers? The answer might seem so obvious to many readers that it is hardly worth asking. But a powerful strand of political opinion is building up to an attack on the concept. Mary Creagh, the new Labour shadow Transport Secretary said last […]

Why teachers are just like bankers

The current highly emotional debate about GCSE grades is not very enlightening.  But what has happened tells us a lot about how incentives matter, how they affect outcomes.  And at the same time, it shows that unless a proper set of social norms is in place, incentives can have unanticipated, perverse effects. Bankers and teachers […]