Embarrassing academic reversals show expert opinions are often built on sand
Last week we saw yet another major reversal of opinion by experts. For years we have all been lectured severely on the need to finish every single course of prescription drugs. But the latest wisdom is that this is not necessary. The announcement that petrol and diesel cars will be banned by 2040 only serves […]
Was Michael Gove right? Have we had enough of experts?
Experts are finding it harder to be heard. But is that because of how they communicate? And how solid is their much-vaunted evidence base anyway? Using evidence to assess the outcomes of policies is a vital part of good governance. Whether it is examining how a Budget will affect those on low incomes, or how […]
Paul Ormerod in discussion with Prospect magazine
Paul Ormerod, Alison Wolf, and Adam Tooze join Prospect Editor Tom Clark to discuss whether it’s a good thing that so many people go to university; why trust in experts has fallen so low; and how, 10 years on from the banking crisis, a new system of regulation has been quietly introduced under-the-radar. But how sustainable is it? […]
Paul Buchanan discusses ‘Pricing for Prosperity’
It is over 200 years since road pricing was first suggested but there are only three significant schemes in operation: London, Singapore & Stockholm. All are ongoing and popular, even though they cover only a small % of the city and levy a simple, and relatively ineffective, cordon charge. Our proposal (Volterra with Jacobs) for […]
Beware the dysfunctional consequences of imposing misguided incentive systems
Following the disclosure of salaries at the BBC, it has hardly seemed possible to open a newspaper or switch on the television without being bombarded by stories about pay. By pure coincidence, an academic paper entitled “Pay for Performance and Beyond” has just appeared. So what, you might ask? Except that it is one of […]
Believe it or not, Britain is getting happier
The dominant economic narrative in the UK is a pretty gloomy one just now. True, employment is at a record high. But, counter the whingers and whiners, zero hours contracts and low pay proliferate. The political discourse is full of the struggles of the JAMs – the Just About Managing The public sector moans about […]
Cautious corporates sitting on hoards of cash are to blame for our slow recovery
The slow recovery since the financial crisis remains a dominant issue in both political and economic debate. The economy has definitely revived since 2009, the depth of the recession, in both Britain and America. The average annual growth in real GDP has been very similar, at 2.0 and 2.1 per cent respectively. This is much […]
Volterra’s Lucy Dean and Alex O’Byrne present at Annual Transport Practitioners Meeting
Lucy Dean and Alex O’Byrne were recently invited to speak at the 15th Annual Transport Practitioners Meeting (TPM) in Nottingham. TPM is the annual meeting place for all transport planners, highway engineers and urban transport designers. Practitioners, policy makers and academics are invited to present topical papers over the two days. Lucy’s presentation ‘What might the […]
Corbyn and McDonnell’s delusional tax plan would cut revenue and harm growth
The income tax system in the UK is highly progressive. Not many people know that, to use a catch phrase attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the great actor Michael Caine. The top one per cent of earners contribute 27 per cent of all income tax receipts. To put it in context, just 300,000 people pay […]
Paul at Modelling World conference: AVs and Hyperloop ‘could transform travel patterns’
Paul was recently invited to speak at the Modelling World conference – the longest running conference for transport, data and urban professionals in Europe. With 30 years experience in transport economics, Paul spoke about the impacts of “disruptive transport technology”, giving an upbeat assessment of a future in which highly autonomous vehicles (AVs) and Hyperloop […]
