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Eamonn Butler

9 January 2013

1 comment

Friends of the IEA will be sorry to hear of the death of James M. Buchanan, the US economist and Nobel Laureate. In the 1960s, with colleague Gordon Tullock, Buchanan brought to wide attention...

How the government uses charities to lobby itself

Chris Snowdon

11 June 2012

14 comments

2008 represented something of a milestone for Britain’s charity sector as it was the year in which it received more money from government than from individuals. This was emblematic of the...

Mayoral elections show the shortcomings of political decision-making

Eamonn Butler

3 May 2012

1 comment

It’s election time again in the UK, where the local elections – in particular the high-profile contest for Mayor of London – are a laboratory example of all the shortcomings of...

The deeper causes of Britain’s economic stagnation

Richard Wellings

26 April 2012

4 comments

Mancur Olson is best known for his 1965 book, The Logic of Collective Action, in which he explained why small, concentrated interest groups are more likely to influence policy than large,...

‘Legalised plunder’ warps electoral morals

Stephen Michael MacLean

12 April 2012

3 comments

Britons attentive to political affairs in Canada will be aware of its latest political scandal: allegations abound of electioneering shenanigans involving annoying telephone calls in the late of...

Public Choice – A Primer

Eamonn Butler

26 March 2012

8 comments

Politicians are always exhorting us to take more interest in our community, in the government of our country, and the ongoing debates about schools or hospitals or roads. But few of us do. Politics...

‘The Left’ and Public Choice Theory

Mark Pennington

1 February 2012

comments

The mention of public choice theory to those on ‘the left’ of politics can prompt a variety of reactions. Some are based on ignorance about the very existence of public choice economics...

Housing policy in the public choice trap

Kristian Niemietz

14 December 2011

comments

Nearly ten years ago, IEA author Mark Pennington argued that British land use planning policies were characterised by public choice problems. Since no single individual’s vote has a...

Sidestepping the bureaucrats to cut government waste

Stephen Michael MacLean

25 November 2011

2 comments

Students of public choice theory will recognise the rationale behind the Canadian government’s recent effort to cut waste. In response to an access-to-information request, the Treasury...

Generation Rent: rational ignorance or rational irrationality

Kristian Niemietz

1 June 2011

1 comment

‘Generation Rent’ seems to be the media catchphrase of the day, and this should come as no surprise. Over the past fifteen years, house prices have risen so sharply that despite the...

Winning the war on government waste

Daniel Jordan

26 October 2010

1 comment

Last week’s Comprehensive Spending Review has reignited the debate on how much the government can save by cutting waste. To quote the Review, “Particular focus has been given to reducing...

Why Cambridge University should go private

Charles K. Rowley

19 October 2010

4 comments

Since the end of World War II, top British universities have experienced relative decline in the international league tables. Most especially, the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford have really...

The British electorate speaks with forked tongue

Charles K. Rowley

8 May 2010

7 comments

Indecisive outcomes are periodic features of the Westminster model, even though the plurality (first-past-the-post) system is custom-made to secure a single-party majority. Hung parliaments occurred...

Should the UK introduce a carbon tax?

Richard Wellings

24 September 2009

comments

Earlier this month, President Sarkozy announced plans to introduce a carbon tax in France. The UK could follow suit. A widely applied new tax, justified on environmental grounds, could prove popular...

Obama’s folly: high-speed rail in America

Richard Wellings

10 September 2009

13 comments

From China to California, the current slump has been marked by enthusiasm for high-speed rail. Projects typically form part of some kind of “Keynesian” stimulus package. Here in Britain...

UK debt crisis: politicians must wake up and smell the coffee

Richard Wellings

22 June 2009

22 comments

Britain now faces its worst ever peacetime fiscal crisis, yet our politicians seem incapable of grasping the seriousness of the situation. Indeed, when Andrew Lansley suggested recently...

How Boris can beat the RMT

Richard Wellings

11 June 2009

26 comments

The RMT has once again brought London to a standstill with a 48-hour strike. This is a good example of public choice theory at work, in particular Mancur Olson’s logic of collective action. A...

The myth of “systemic failure” in banking

James Alexander

5 June 2009

12 comments

The threat of “systemic failure” has been used to justify recent government interventions in the financial sector. Essentially it is a “market-failure” type of argument...

EU centralisation threatens freedom and democracy

Roland Vaubel

3 June 2009

comments

Europeans go to the polls this week, yet despite the appearance of democracy it is clear that EU institutions are not representative of the people. Indeed, no matter how citizens vote, these...

Parliament of ho, ho, hos!

Donald J. Boudreaux

27 December 2008

2 comments

Shopping-mall Santas remind me of politicians. No joke. Consider the similarities: each Santa sits upon a throne and receives from strangers demands for free goodies. Each child who asks for things...

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