The UK’s capacity to innovate matters far more than panic over consumer spending

The debate about Brexit has become mired in a virtually incomprehensible quagmire of detailed and technical negotiations between the UK and the rest of the EU. Yet the campaign itself in 2016 was dominated by broader questions of political economy. In addition to the hurly burly of claims about extra NHS spending or Project Fear, […]

Investors should intervene to stop high executive pay, before the regulator does

Shareholder discontent over executive pay continues to rise. Last week, the outgoing boss of BT, Gavin Patterson, was in the firing line. At the company’s annual general meeting, 34 per cent of investors voted against the remuneration report, which included a £1.3m bonus payment to Patterson. Concern about top pay has spread even to the […]

Never mind who wins, the World Cup is a treasure trove for curious economists

Our boys make progress – and I don’t mean on Brexit. On a visit to Glasgow last Thursday, a popular Scottish newspaper had a mock-up photo of Harry Kane lifting the cup. In massive type, the headline shrieked “This Would Be the End of the World”. Yes, it would rather put the Highland Clearances into […]

Meet the engineers of economic theory: Market design has become a full-time job

What does someone with the job title of “chief economist” actually do? The most well-known in the UK is probably Andy Haldane at the Bank of England, but his role is not typical. So what do the others do? Nobel Laureate Alvin Roth’s paper in the latest issue of the American Economic Review describes the […]

Immigration fears are more economically rational than the urban liberals pretend

Immigration is a hot topic in both senses of the word “hot”. Not only is it at the forefront of the news, it also provokes heated emotions. For the metropolitan liberal elite, immigration is unequivocally a Good Thing. They are on the side of the angels. Whether it is President Trump attempting to control entry […]

Economics is doing just fine, thank you, without adopting psychology’s blunders

Criticisms of economics have abounded since the financial crisis. Even Nobel Prize winners like George Akerlof of Berkeley have got in on the act. A key demand is for economics to adopt a more recognisably human portrait of behaviour in its theories than the rational calculating machine of the textbooks. Psychology rather than pure economic […]

Anyone for England? The World Cup and business stardom are both games of luck

The 2018 World Cup in Russia kicks off tomorrow. This time, at least, there is little feeling that our boys will emerge victorious. And yet. There is a great deal more randomness in the outcome of soccer games than is generally appreciated. A striking feature of games in the World Cup is that they are […]