Bets, hedges, affordable loss and economic appraisal
In a week where the government has cut huge swathes of HS2, economic appraisal is in the spotlight again. Cost benefit analysis is the widespread tool used to assess the economic impact of public investment projects across government. It compares the benefits of a decision to its costs to understand whether it provides value for […]
Join us in welcoming Thomas Ure to Volterra
Tom joins us a Graduate Economic Consultant having recently completed a master’s degree in applied economics at the University of Bath. Tom has a particular interest in education, development and health economics. As part of his course, he recently completed a policy brief on the effects of working from home on mental and physical wellbeing, […]
Rush hour pricing in pubs will kill off the customer loyalty businesses badly need
Britain’s largest pub group, Stonegate, caused outrage last week with its proposal to charge 20p a pint more at peak times at some 800 of its outlets. It is but the latest example of what has become known as “dynamic pricing”. Basically, charging more when demand is high. Many can surely empathise with the concept, […]
Sofia Kaur promoted to Senior Consultant at Volterra
Congratulations to Sofia Kaur on her promotion to senior consultant at Volterra! Sofia is an invaluable member of our team, and her dedication, expertise, and commitment consistently shines through. Sofia has an impressive track record of delivering innovative solutions to challenges we face in our work. A recent example of this is her work on the Joyce […]
An uncertain past
A significant part of our work at Volterra involves dealing with an uncertain future. Questions such as how many jobs a development will create, what strategy should an area adopt given we cannot predict how the economy will evolve, or how a new rail link will impact land use patterns around stations all require some […]
Don’t blame austerity for the crumbling concrete, Osborne salvaged Britain’s deficit
If only the Conservatives had loosened the purse strings on public spending in the 2010s, the story now goes, all the decrepit buildings could have been fixed. “Austerity” has, of course, become the catch-all word describing the David Cameron and George Osborne policy of restrictions on public spending to control Britain’s financial deficit. This misperception […]
Politicians must understand that taxation is not a substitute for economic growth
In a speech last week, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party provided a ray of sunshine. I am not taking bets, by the way, on the number of times this particular sentence has been written. But Anas Sarwar was making a serious point which is of critical importance not just for Scotland, but for […]
My summer placement at Volterra
Having completed my year abroad studying I wanted to gain some experience in London based on my interests. I decided to accept the offer to join Volterra for July and August this year. Volterra’s specialisation within transport infrastructure, including micro-mobility and high-speed rail, strongly resonate with the skills I developed during my work with the […]
Taxes have never been so high but it’s still not enough for some
Taxes are higher than at any time since the Second World War. The UK’s overall tax burden now stands at 37 per cent of the total national income, according to last week’s report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies. The Conservatives will preside over the biggest tax-increasing parliament in living memory. Taxes on average have […]
Years on, we still haven’t learnt to quantify the damage done during the pandemic
The Royal Society is the world’s oldest independent scientific academy. Last week, some of its scientists trespassed onto public policy with a report on how effectively lockdowns and other measures such as mask wearing reduced the number of cases during the Covid-19 pandemic. At one level, the work was thorough and scrupulous. More than fifty scientists […]
