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High Speed 2 and the logic of collective action
Richard Wellings
19 August 2013
3 comments

In a 1965 book, The Logic of Collective Action, the American economist Mancur Olson explores the impact of special interest groups on the political process. Olson’s hypotheses are derived from...
The case for raising speed limits
Richard Wellings
9 May 2013
48 comments

If major roads were privately owned and freed of government regulation, the setting of speed limits would be a commercial decision. Entrepreneurs would seek to attract customers to their routes in...
Chancellor still taking a dangerous gamble on future growth
Richard Wellings
20 March 2013
comments

George Osborne continues to make the same error he made in previous budgets. He is assuming the British economy will return to robust growth from 2014 onwards and that this will deliver the higher...
Plan to ring-fence banks misguided
Richard Wellings
6 February 2013
3 comments

The British government is right to be examining ways of shielding taxpayers from the costs of bank failure. However, proposals to ring-fence the retail operations of banks, and indeed to give the...
Why are rail subsidies so high?
Richard Wellings
22 January 2013
7 comments

Taxpayer subsidies to the rail sector have reached astronomical levels. At £6 billion per year (including Crossrail), they have roughly trebled in real terms over the last twenty years. But...
The Chancellor is still gambling on strong medium-term growth
Richard Wellings
5 December 2012
2 comments

At the time of the last Autumn statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was predicting growth of 0.7 per cent in 2012, followed by 2.1 per cent in 2013, 2.7 per cent in 2014 and a...
Energy Bill will impose immense costs on households and businesses
Richard Wellings
23 November 2012
2 comments

Today’s agreement on energy policy, ahead of the forthcoming introduction of the Energy Bill, shows the government remains committed to meeting ambitious targets on greenhouse gas...
The impact of fuel duty on work incentives
Richard Wellings
19 November 2012
26 comments

According to a review commissioned by the Department of Social Security, ‘the costs of travelling to work will ... be a factor in some people’s decisions about whether to look for or...
Roads must be taken out of political control
Richard Wellings
29 October 2012
comments

  The government’s new plan for a two-tier road tax system has many shortcomings. In particular, it fails to address the economic distortions created by a fiscal framework that taxes...
Cut more, regulate less
Richard Wellings
22 August 2012
4 comments

Relying on growth was always going to be a risky strategy. Yet a healthy recovery, with robust GDP increases of 2%-plus, formed the core of the government’s deficit reduction plan. In this...
The government is off track with its uneconomic transport policy
Richard Wellings
17 July 2012
4 comments

Is electrifying branch lines in Wales a top priority for transport investment? It seems unlikely. But then again the government’s plans to invest £9.4bn in rail infrastructure show...
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,...
How to abolish the NHS
Richard Wellings
23 January 2012
138 comments

The National Health Service enjoys strong support among the public, making it almost impossible to introduce radical reforms, even if the performance of the NHS is relatively poor compared with...
Politicians are to blame if we have crony capitalists
Richard Wellings
19 January 2012
1 comment

Capitalism has a problem. Increasingly it is viewed as a deeply unfair system favouring a small, privileged elite at the expense of everyone else. Our politicians have been quick to join the...
New plans by Grant Shapps are a recipe for increasing homelessness
Richard Wellings
11 January 2012
7 comments

Housing minister Grant Shapps recently announced plans to make the unauthorised subletting of social housing a criminal offence, with offenders facing up to two years in prison. The...
Infrastructure stimulus will be counterproductive
Richard Wellings
21 December 2011
1 comment

As the economic slump persists, calls are growing for an increase in infrastructure spending as a means of boosting growth. Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg have announced plans for the delivery...
Osborne looked to special interests, not the UK’s perilous state
Richard Wellings
30 November 2011
2 comments

The Autumn Statement showed that George Osborne has failed to grasp the gravity of the economic crisis facing the UK. Urgent action was needed to brace the economy for double-dip recession and the...
Euro crisis: the dangers of fiscal integration
Richard Wellings
27 October 2011
3 comments

European leaders are advocating greater fiscal integration in response to the ongoing euro crisis. Despite their professed euroscepticism, David Cameron and George Osborne have offered their...
High Speed 2 is a flawed project
Richard Wellings
20 July 2011
2 comments

Earlier this week, in a piece for ConservativeHome, Karen Lumley MP launched an astounding attack on the IEA’s latest research paper, High Speed 2: the next government project disaster? Her...
Politicians should get out of the transport market – starting with High Speed 2
Richard Wellings
19 July 2011
6 comments

Britain’s transport sector is cursed by endless intervention by politicians. Investment has tended to be driven by political priorities rather than consumer demand. The emphasis has been on...

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