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'Who you know' and 'what you know' - what does Nick Clegg know?
Philip Booth
5 April 2011
1 comment

Today, Nick Clegg decided to declare war on nepotism. He wants to 'stop a lot of the informal advantages which are helping certain people to hoard opportunities at the exclusion of others...
Robert Barro: Unions vs. the Right to Work
Robert Barro
28 February 2011
comments

How ironic that Wisconsin has become ground zero for the battle between taxpayers and public- employee labor unions. Wisconsin was the first state to allow collective bargaining for government...
Women on boards
Len Shackleton
8 February 2011
8 comments

According to the Sunday Times, the European Commission is drawing up a "voluntary" code fixing a minimum (30% by 2015, 40% by 2020) proportion of women on company boards. If enough firms...
Not enough, Mr Cable
Len Shackleton
28 January 2011
2 comments

Business Secretary Vince Cable is proposing what the Financial Times calls "an employer-friendly shake-up of Employment Tribunals". Hmm. The proposals include an extension from one to...
Demos's "family-friendly" policies expand state intervention and raise business costs
Len Shackleton
17 January 2011
comments

The attractiveness of the coalition to many of us was that we would get determined action to shrink the size of the state and to refocus on what government needed to do rather than perpetually...
Scrapping the "default retirement age" is another nail in the coffin of freedom of contract
Philip Booth
14 January 2011
comments

Another nail was hammered in the coffin of freedom of contract today when the Government confirmed that it was scrapping what it calls the "default retirement age". The "default...
Growth will come from the bottom up
Ruth Porter
5 January 2011
2 comments

Today the Prime Minister announced a New Enterprise Allowance to give grants, loans and mentoring to unemployed people trying to start up new businesses. While the focus on the problems facing...
Will Hutton’s pay proposals may increase the scope for cronyism
Steve Davies
2 December 2010
2 comments

Yesterday Will Hutton published the initial results of the enquiry he has been conducting on the government’s behalf into pay differentials and levels of remuneration for senior managers...
Privatise the fire brigade!
Nick Hayns
5 November 2010
8 comments

Tonight is Bonfire Night. That night of the year where some people celebrate Guy Fawkes’ failure to blow up the Houses of Parliament by almost burning down their own and where the government...
Acas needs reform
Len Shackleton
4 November 2010
comments

Acas, (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) was originally tipped for abolition by the Coalition. It now appears that it has been spared the flames of the bonfire of Quangos. If it is...
Can Sarkozy beat the unions?
Finbarr Toesland
25 October 2010
3 comments

Trade unions in France have historically commanded a disproportionate level of power and influence over government policy. The percentage of workers in unions in 1960 was only 19.6%, and this...
Jobs for the boys
D. R. Myddelton
23 October 2010
comments

A proposal to merge three London boroughs – Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea – in order to yield significant cost savings has been greeted by trade...
Equality can’t be mandated by law
Daniel Knowles
15 October 2010
3 comments

It is not clear whether the producers (or the politicians for that matter) intended it, but a new British film about equal pay – Made in Dagenham – has been released at the same time as...
The Nobel economics winning trio deconstructed
Robert Wenzel
13 October 2010
comments

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2010 was awarded jointly to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides. Diamond, 70, is an economist...
The Big Society starts at home – let’s stop penalising “coupling”
Philip Booth
7 October 2010
3 comments

The UK does not have particularly high economic inactivity rates. Large numbers of women tend to work and worklessness amongst those approaching state retirement age is not as high in the UK as in...
Minimum wage hike will harm job growth and competitiveness
Karthik Reddy
6 October 2010
2 comments

Nearly one million Britons will see their pay rise to £5.93 this week, from £5.80 per hour last week – representing a 2% rise in the adult minimum wage in accordance with...
Equality Act shows coalition isn’t serious about deregulation
Richard Wellings
2 October 2010
9 comments

The Equality Act came into force yesterday. It strengthens anti-discrimination law and will make it easier for members of specified groups to win claims for discrimination, harassment and...
Scrapping the ’statutory retirement age’ – clever spin, but a retrograde step
Mark Littlewood
29 July 2010
7 comments

The coalition government is considering scrapping the fixed retirement age and Minister for Employment Relations, Ed Davey, is promoting the policy on the grounds of choice – You don’t...
Tribunals once more
Len Shackleton
23 July 2010
1 comment

I don’t apologise for returning once more to my hobby-horse, the seemingly unstoppable growth of employment tribunal claims and the pernicious effect of fear of tribunals on the workplace....
The challenge of immigration: a radical solution
Gary S. Becker
28 June 2010
comments

The 19th Annual IEA Hayek Memorial Lecture, given by Professor Gary Becker on 17 June 2010:

IEA Brexit prize

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