Keynesians are wrong: Cutting public spending can boost economic growth
The key aim of George Osborne’s economic policy has been to eliminate the financial deficit of the public sector. The main way of trying to achieve has been to squeeze public spending. The orthodox economic textbooks maintain that this withdraws demand from the economy, and so leads to the growth rate being slower than it […]
Volterra in the news: ‘unions are standing against progress’
Jo Valentine, Chief Executive of London First, spoke out against last weeks tube strike stating that by striking against the Night Tube ‘unions are standing against progress’. In an article for City AM Jo Valentine discussed the need for London to remain competitive on the global stage and refers to Volterra’s report for TfL in […]
Response to Cecil the Lion’s death is a sad lesson in the irrationality of public opinion
Alas poor Cecil! Close personal friend of mine, sadly dead now. The catchphrases of the Scottish comedian Bob Doolally capture the outpourings of grief among the Twitterati at the death of the now famous lion. The mourning is mixed with incoherent rage, as long-standing opponents of torture and capital punishment demand that the American dentist […]
Technology is replacing school ties in companies’ battle to keep their employees honest
The activities of the House of Lords are very much in the news at the moment. But the members do carry out serious work, not least on the economic affairs committee. Last week, Lord Green, former chairman and chief executive of HSBC, appeared before them. Yes, the noble Lord admitted, the bank had not got […]
Scandinavia provides the evidence for Osborne’s war on welfare
George Osborne’s budget has been met with predictable outrage from the poverty lobby. The cuts to the welfare budget will allegedly create shocking levels of deprivation. Young people in particular, it is stated, have been singled out for punitive measures. On the face of it, the arguments do seem plausible. Many people on benefits will […]
Closing the gender pay gap
Those who were lucky enough to attend the Wimbledon Tennis Championships recently cannot have failed to take in the sense of tradition that surrounds those who pass through the gates of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. But in one important sense, Wimbledon is a beacon of progress in the UK – since 2007, the […]
Guaranteed bank deposits and the market for lemons
One aspect of the Greek crisis which will affect many readers is the reduction in the amount of cash in a bank deposit which is protected. The Bank of England announced that the current guaranteed amount of £85,000 will be cut to £75,000 on 1 January. This has led to predictable outrage, with Andrew Tyrie […]
Child poverty is thankfully not rising – but the archaic definition needs to go
David Cameron is feeling the heat. This is not just a consequence of the sudden dramatic rise in London temperatures. The need to extract something meaningful from our EU partners and the increased threat of terrorist attacks are sleep-depriving problems. But the Prime Minister did have one good result during the past week. Despite widespread […]
Short termism in Financial Markets
There has been an immense focus on the Financial Sector in the years since the 2008 Financial Crisis, and rightly so. It was the worst since the Great Depression of 1929 and systemic risks in the financial sector contributed heavily to the depth of the recession. Since then there have been Libor scandals, misselling claims, […]
Who plays better poker? Cameron, Sturgeon or Varoufakis?
The gracious Palladian architecture of Edinburgh has often led the city to be described as the Athens of the North. If the referendum result had gone the other way, much closer parallels would have rapidly emerged. A high spending left-wing government, faced by a collapse in revenues with the fall in the oil price, would […]
