Bridget appointed OBE
The 2013 Birthday Honours list has brought good news to Volterra with Senior Partner Bridget Rosewell being appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the economy. Congratulations Bridget!
London Finance Commission report on the future of ‘funding’ the capital
Last year we announced that Bridget Rosewell was to sit on the panel for the London Finance Commission – an initiative of Boris Johnson – which looked at ways of ensuring that fiscal responsibility could be increased for London and investment support. The commission met on a monthly basis from July 2012 to April 2013 […]
Paul speaks web psychology
OgilvyChange, the specialist behavioural sciences practice of Ogilvy & Mather UK, hosted Nudgestock, the UK’s largest gathering of behavioural sciences experts on Friday 24th May at Shoreditch Town Hall. Volterra partner Paul Ormerod discussed the psychology behind the decisions individuals make alongside some of the leading behavioural scientists, award winning authors and personalities from the creative advertising […]
New Partnerships…
We are thrilled to announce two new Partners within our team. Ellie Evans and Said Hirsh both have a long history within Volterra. Said, who previously headed our Middle East division, has over 10 years of experience as an economist and strategist, working with government and private sector clients in the UK, Europe, US, the […]
Nick Bosanquet and infrastructure ‘Reform’
Volterra associate Nick Bosanquet is a member of the advisory board for Reform – a non-party think tank whose mission is to set out a better way to deliver public services and economic prosperity. He recently contributed to a report on the investment in infrastructure. Read Nick’s thoughts here and the full report here.
Quality counts: Marshall-Lerner and the trade balance
The balance of trade does not attract much attention these days. Maybe it should. The UK has run a deficit in traded goods every single year since 1983. In recent years, this has soared, to over £60 billion a year since 2004, exceeding 5 per cent of GDP. Fortunately, there are two substantial offsets. First, our services sector. From […]
The rapid rise of the food bank can’t just be blamed on government austerity
FOOD banks are a rapidly growing phenomenon in the UK. A few years ago, they barely existed, but an estimated half a million people now make use of them every week. On the face of it, it seems that poverty has sadly become endemic since the financial crisis, with many families unable even to feed […]
Trouble at Co-op Bank raises questions about fitness of the mutual model
IT’S not all fun and games at the Co-op Bank. Just over a month ago, the bank was serious about acquiring 632 branches from Lloyds. Now its debt has been downgraded six notches to junk status, and veteran HSBC banker Niall Booker has been brought in as replacement chief executive after Barry Tootell resigned. Inquests […]
A wake-up call for the Department of Transport: do the proper sums, HS2 is worth it
The High Speed 2 rail project is under fire on many fronts. The Nimby protests in the affluent Home Counties have been augmented last week by more weighty criticism by the National Audit Office (NAO) of the scheme. At least, this is how the NAO’s work has come across in the media. But the NAO […]
Scotland could be a scientific test bed for monetary theory
According to the Scottish National Party, after the referendum on independence next year, Scotland will be a land of milk and honey. The highest per capita levels of public expenditure in the UK can easily be sustained. The whole of the revenue from North Sea oil and gas will belong to Scotland, regardless of the wishes of […]
