Black Friday, Games and the Stock Market
Black Friday has come and gone. The massive surge into the shops which was anticipated in much of the media failed to materialise. Many retail outlets were quieter than a normal Friday. In contrast, internet shopping went wild. Amazon had its biggest ever day in the UK, selling over 7 million items. Argos and John […]
It is not just the Euro. Southern Europe faces a major structural crisis
Major shocks to social and economic systems ruthlessly expose weaknesses which can be contained in more normal times. When the price of oil quadrupled in 1973/74, the different levels of resilience in the labour markets of Western Europe were quickly revealed. Inflation initially rose sharply everywhere. By 1976, it had fallen to 4 per cent […]
Could Ernie replace Andy? The Bank’s take on automation
The Chief Economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, has been in the news with his predictions that up to 15 million jobs in the UK are at risk of being lost to automation. This is a huge number, around half the total number of people in work today. Haldane injected a note of […]
Groucho Marx and Property Bubbles
The commercial property market in London has been booming for several years. The Bank of England is concerned about yet another property bubble building up. The executive director for financial stability, strategy and risk at the Bank, Alex Brazier, warned in a speech last month that positive sentiment in the industry must be “tempered by […]
Bridget Rosewell announced as Commissioner for National Infrastructure Commission
Volterra partners Paul Ormerod, Paul Buchanan and Ellie Evans are delighted to announce Bridget Rosewell’s appointment as Commissioner on the independent National Infrastructure Commission. On Friday 30th October at the National Railway Museum in York George Osborne announced Bridget Rosewell as one of the seven highly experienced Commissioners to work with Lord Andrew Adonis. The new National Infrastructure Commission has […]
Do markets solve the problem of discrimination?
The Prime Minister recently announced that the civil service will now introduce name-blind recruitment. When people apply for public sector jobs, their name will not appear on the documents sent to the appointment panel. Major companies such as HSBC, KPMG, the BBC and the NHS are following suit. Economists have produced a substantial body of […]
Building with Certainty: Volterra’s Ellie Evans presents on the macro economy and the outlook for property
On 15th October Volterra partner Ellie Evans spoke at Strutt & Parker’s Development & Planning breakfast seminar ‘Building with Certainty’. The event was attended by over a hundred property professionals and covered a wide range of topics from political stability to development funding and city investment. Ellie opened the event giving a presentation on the […]
Why a sugar tax would be a big fat failure: People are too smart for central planners
Government ministers have bowed to pressure. They have published the report by Public Health England (PHE) which calls for a tax of up to 20 per cent on sugary drinks and foods. If the tax reduced sugar intake in line with the recommendations, it is claimed that more than 77,000 deaths could be prevented in […]
Driverless Cars and the City. Volterra’s Paul Buchanan speaker at conference.
The emergence of autonomous vehicles will have far reaching implications for cities, planners, real estate and the wider urban environment. Going beyond the technology, Urban Land Institute’s conference Driverless Cars and the City, explored the implications for cities, mobility and the possible changes to urban realm. It was aimed at complementing initiatives delivered by Greater […]
Technological breakthroughs will make fossil fuels unburnable – not bureaucrats
The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, courted the wrath of the fossil fuel industry in a speech at the end of last month. He argued that investors in the sector face ‘potentially huge losses’. Actions by governments to try to head off climate change could make most reserves of coal, oil and […]
