Paul Buchanan: should we centralise employment growth?
Volterra partner Paul Buchanan recently spoke at an infrastructure seminar in Cardiff organised by the Transport Statistics Users Group. Paul suggested that Cardiff should concentrate in the short term on using planning and other policies to focus its employment growth in the city centre. Research has shown that economies benefit when employment is concentrated in […]
Prospects for Property 2014
Volterra have a long and successful partnership with Strutt & Parker, acting as their exclusive in-house economic and research functions. At their recent annual event ‘Prospects for Property’, Volterra partner Paul Ormerod presented the outlook for the UK Economy and commercial and residential property sectors. Speaking to an audience of over 200 investors and property […]
Forward guidance needed for companies, not consumers
Most of the commentary on the UK’s economic recovery focuses on consumers. Are they taking on too much debt again to finance their spending? Is there a bubble in house prices, as people get excited about bricks and mortar again? Certainly, in terms of its sheer size, spending by consumers is by far the biggest […]
German revival exposes deep fissure within Europe’s economies
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Germany was seen by many as the new ‘Sick Man of Europe’. Between 1991 and 2005, GDP growth averaged only 1.2 per cent a year, compared to 3.3 per cent in the UK. Since then, the German economy has revived dramatically. The recovery in the German cluster of economies […]
Onion Economics
There is something about onions which brings out the worst in bureaucrats. Orlando Figes’ A People’s Tragedy chronicles the early years of the Russian revolution. Under war communism, the Bolsheviks attempted to exert state control over the entire economy. A long list of vegetables was drawn up, specifying the prices at which they could be […]
Valentine’s Day: Myth and Reality
Valentine’s Day is almost upon us. Many readers may recall a time when its main purpose was for love-struck teenagers to communicate, anonymously or otherwise, with the objects of their desire. Now, it is big business. It is hardly possible to enter a pub or restaurant without being exhorted to publicly display fidelity and love […]
Bridget and the city
Many thanks to those of you that attended Bridget Rosewell>’s lecture and book launch last week at Centre for London. If you still haven’t got your copy of ‘Reinventing London’ you can buy one here. Bridget’s connection with cities economics continues with her recent appointment to two expert panels that examine future possibilities for UK cities. […]
Paul speaks to the Polish Council
Volterra partner Paul Ormerod was recently invited to speak to the Polish Economic Council, the top decision making body on the economy in Poland. He spoke about the importance of psychology and narratives in the economy. For example, as quantitative easing is wound down, the same act can lead to quite different outcomes, depending upon […]
Nick in the press
Volterra associate Nick Bosanquet was recently featured in the Financial Times as one of the paper’s select group of policymakers, academics and commentators that take part in an annual survey in order to gauge views on some important questions for the economy for the coming year. Read Nick’s responses to their 2014 survey here. Nick also […]
Paul looks at how art holds a mirror up to a gloomy economy…
Paul has recently co-authored a study which examines how the frequency of words expressing misery and unhappiness in books reflects the economic conditions in the years prior to the work’s composition. The report, published in online journal PLoS ONE suggests a strong correlation! Paul has commented “The results suggest quite clearly that, contrary to post-modern […]
