How European commissioners really allocate EU funding

“Pork barrel” has been a theme in American politics for almost as long as the United States has existed. Many members of Congress work hard to secure public works projects, agricultural subsidies and the like for their own districts, almost regardless of the economic arguments for and against. Surely the European commissioners would rise above […]

The impact of Brexit on industry

Following the successful publication of Brexit Britain: the trade challenge, Prospect has commissioned a report designed to educate and inform parliamentarians and industry representatives about the impact of Brexit on industry. Bridget Rosewell has contributed a piece to the report – Brexit Britain: the future of industry

The UK could teach the Eurozone a thing or two about successful monetary unions

Euro sign

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published last week some figures which show how a successful monetary union works in practice. It is not obvious at first sight, from the dry heading: “regional public sector finances”. The ONS collects information on the amounts of public spending and money raised in taxes across the regions of […]

Anti-growth Welsh leaders are denying their voters prosperity by opposing shale

Fracking rig

Leading Welsh politicians seem to be getting ideas above their station. Fifty years ago, Labour held all but four of the Parliamentary seats, and had over 60 per cent of the vote. Now, the Conservatives are by a large margin the second party in terms of votes, and are within hailing distance of Labour. They […]

Claims that a low tax, low regulation UK would be a disaster are rubbish

President Hollande in the UK

Dame Minouche Shafik, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, is leaving to become Director of the London School of Economics.  Last weekend, she gave her final interview wearing her Bank hat. Shafik issued what was described in the media as a “thinly veiled warning” to the Chancellor, Phillip Hammond.  She stated that it was […]

Why the economics profession remains blind to the benefits of Brexit

The office for National Statistics last week estimated that the UK economy grew at an annual rate of 2.4 per cent in the final quarter of last year. This is slightly above the long-term average growth of the past three decades. But a Financial Times survey this month showed that the majority of economists remain […]

Paul Ormerod to speak at Economic Research Council: buy tickets now!

Volterra’s Paul Ormerod to speak at the Economic Research Council on Monday 20th February 18.30 – 20.00. Paul will be discussing why so many economists are opposed to Brexit.  Book your ticket here. A limited number of Early Bird tickets are available for £15 each. Following a Financial Times survey in January that showed that nine times […]

The NHS will never have enough cash: the English religion needs reformation

We British like traditions. A well-established one which comes round every year is the “winter crisis” in the NHS. Health provision is a political hot potato not just for this government, or indeed for any particular UK government, but for governments across the developed world. One of the key assumptions made by economists about human […]

Paul Ormerod: why are so few economists Brexiteers?

Leading Economist Paul Ormerod wrote an article for Prospect Magazine on 9th January asking why so few economists are Brexiteers… Groupthink culture in the economics profession led the Bank of England’s Chief Economist, Andy Haldane, to admit last week that economic forecasting is in crisis. You can read the full article here.

What Dirty Harry tells us about economic forecasters’ Michael Fish moment

Economic forecasters are in the dock. Last week, none other than the chief economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, was confessing the crimes of the profession. The failure to predict the financial crisis was, Haldane said, economic forecasting’s “Michael Fish” moment. Thirty years ago, the BBC weatherman predicted that the UK would avoid […]