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British government DEFAULT
D. R. Myddelton
9 July 2010
4 comments

It is distressing to witness yet another piece of financial chicanery by the British government, which now proposes to substitute the Consumer Prices Index for the Retail Prices Index as the “...
How to reform public sector pensions
Richard Wellings
7 July 2010
1 comment

Today, the Public Sector Pensions Commission - which was established in autumn 2009 by the IEA, the Institute of Directors and other groups - has released its report, Reforming Public...
Don’t lecture the drinkers, just make them responsible
Mark Littlewood
6 July 2010
7 comments

Alcohol consumption is now a major problem in British society. Drunken teenagers are running rampant in our town centres. Accident and emergency wards are chock-a-block with people who have fallen...
The Rahn Curve and the growth-maximising level of government
Daniel J. Mitchell
5 July 2010
3 comments

 
Keynesian policies have brought Britain to the brink of ruin
Kevin Dowd
24 June 2010
23 comments

By far the best contribution to the parliamentary debate on the Emergency Budget was by the MP for Wycombe, Steve Baker. Using impeccable analysis and respected (ONS and Bank for International...
Emergency Budget: real spending will be frozen, not cut
Philip Booth
24 June 2010
2 comments

 
Lower public spending leads to more jobs
Richard Teather
23 June 2010
comments

Over the next year or so the question of which countries best survived the bust is likely to be a major source of argument. Supporters of high taxes are already pointing to predictions...
Emergency Budget: harsh lessons from Canada
Dan Osborne
22 June 2010
5 comments

The coalition government has spoken of emulating Canada’s success in enacting austerity measures. They should go Canadian, but it is important that they grasp all aspects of the Canadian...
A Budget of woes? Where has our imagination gone?
Ruth Porter
21 June 2010
1 comment

George Osborne has the chance to do something really radical tomorrow in his Budget statement. He must cut public spending to shore up Britain’s precarious economic situation – he has no...
The trend in trend growth is downwards
Philip Booth
15 June 2010
3 comments

Much was made in the media of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s suggested reduction in the assumed long-term trend growth rate of the economy. It would appear from the analysis that there...
OBR shouldn’t take a Bernie Madoff approach to public sector pensions
Philip Booth
15 June 2010
2 comments

Two things struck me about the OBR report published yesterday. I shall blog about the other later… The first was its treatment of public sector pensions. This is an area where the IEA has...
The misleading and dismal concept of “fairness”
Fred Hansen
15 June 2010
8 comments

The Liberal Democrats have been telling us they want to “hardwire fairness back into national life.” Britain, for all its many strengths, they argue, “is still too...
The real level of UK government debt is around £4.8 trillion
Nick Silver
14 June 2010
2 comments

As we have a new government and we also have a better idea about the effects of the financial crisis on the public finances, I thought it would be worthwhile to update my 2008 paper,...
The Ninth Annual Bastiat Prize Competition
Nathaniel Clark
8 June 2010
comments

Freedom-loving writers published in print or online have until the end of June to enter the Bastiat Prize. The think tank,  International Policy Network, is accepting entries in the form of...
There are too many bureaucrats and they are paid too much
Daniel J. Mitchell
8 June 2010
comments

 
Reasons to be negative about the UK’s growth prospects
Tim Congdon
26 May 2010
7 comments

In the 15 years to 2007, the British economy had on average faster growth (by about 0.5% to 0.75% a year) than its large European neighbours. A similarly benign context of rising trend output and...
George Osborne’s dangerous numbers
Adam Lyons
25 May 2010
8 comments

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.” This is the...
Why increasing Capital Gains Tax could actually reduce revenues
Adam Lyons
24 May 2010
8 comments

It appears that the new coalition government remains committed to increasing the rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to a level in line with income tax. There are many reasons why...
The new egalitarianism: Hagen von Tronje replaces Robin Hood
Kristian Niemietz
21 May 2010
7 comments

Once upon a time, an old Nordic legend tells, there lived a princess in Burgundy who owned a huge treasure of gold. One night the treacherous Hagen von Tronje, an advisor to the king, broke into the...
A warning against Coalition policy on Capital Gains Tax
Philip Booth
19 May 2010
1 comment

Organising a coalition agreement is never easy. There has to be give and take on both sides. However, the Conservatives have made a big mistake in accepting some aspects of Lib Dem tax policy...

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