I’m sorry Ed Miliband, your big green energy plan is all fantasy
Ed Miliband’s green vision is admirable, but the history of energy consumption shows it is all but a fantasy, writes Paul Ormerod The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has attracted criticism in large sections of the media. But he has, unlike some of his Cabinet colleagues, a clear vision about what he wants to do while […]
Yes, AI will wipe out some jobs. But this is the story of progress
AI will inevitably make some jobs redundant, but the benefits to society are far worth it, writes Paul Ormerod The world of AI has gone through exciting times in the last couple of weeks. The main event of course was the launch of the Chinese AI app DeepSeek. It looks very much like ChatGPT and almost […]
Starmer must remember humans respond to incentives, not rules
Rules are important to any civilised society, but Starmer has forgotten that humans respond far better to incentives, writes Paul Ormerod. As the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, often reminds us, his father was a toolmaker. He himself is a lawyer. The two professions have a lot in common. Both require the following of well-established rules […]
Reeves has placed an uncertainty premium on the British economy
Rachel Reeves promised to restore economic stability, but the outcome of her various actions has been to increase uncertainty, says Paul Ormerod Daniel Ellsberg, who died in 2023 in his 90s, was a true Renaissance Man. After a stellar career as an economics student at Harvard, he served in the Marines before working for the […]
Forget the big infrastructure projects, SMEs are the key to unlocking growth
Dear Chancellor, forget the big infrastructure projects. Boosting the productivity of SMEs is the key to growth, writes Paul Ormerod The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has reportedly asked Cabinet colleagues to come up with ideas to boost economic growth. We might reasonably wonder why this exercise was not carried out during Labour’s long period of opposition. Still, something […]
Lessons from the Gulag? Enemies of the people had entrepreneurial spirit
A recent study mapping the link between gulags and regional growth in Russia can teach us something about reviving our own left behind towns, writes economist Paul Ormerod One of the first academic articles published by the American Economic Association in 2025 began, almost certainly for the first time ever in the history of this […]
Recent Conservative governments have been more left wing than Attlee
Here’s a Christmas quiz: Which has been Britain’s most left-wing government? According to Paul Ormerod, it’s not the one you think…. The extended Christmas holidays loom. One way of filling the time is to think about crucial questions such as who is England’s greatest ever batsman, which football club side is the best the world […]
It may already be too late for Labour
The popularity of the Labour party has plunged since the election, and history tells that once a certain narrative has taken hold, it’s very difficult to turn it around, says Paul Ormerod Since the general election in July, the popularity of both the Prime Minister and the Labour Party has fallen sharply. Labour’s share of […]
It’s time for England to stop subsidising Scotland and Wales
The devolved nations are living on another planet economically because England essentially pays for their deficits. This has to stop, says Paul Ormerod Every single pensioner will continue to receive payments towards their winter fuel. This is not some fantasy world in which the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has abandoned one of her flagship policies. It […]
It’s not as easy to count the number of ‘working people’ as you might think
How many people are employed in the UK today? This is not just a question in a pub quiz for boffins. It is one with important practical implications. Changes in the number of people employed is a key piece of information which the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee takes into account when setting interest rates. If […]
