My Blog
Labour’s plans add up on paper, but that won’t translate to the real world
The two main manifestos have been published. Initially at least, the Labour one seems the more popular. Many people are
Diane Abbott is rubbish at maths – but not compared to the rest of the country
Diane Abbott’s car crash of an interview on LBC radio last week hit the headlines. Asked politely but firmly for
Thomas Schelling – a true polymath of genius
Thomas Schelling is probably best known in economics for his contributions to game theory. Indeed the citation for his 2005
Economists have lost the public’s trust by meddling in politics
Michael Gove famously said during the Brexit campaign that people “have had enough of experts”. Certainly, the outcome suggests that
Don’t believe the myths: Capitalism has performed well since the financial crisis
Ten years ago, the financial crisis began to grip the Western economies. During the course of 2007, GDP growth slowed
Government debt addiction means you can be sure of one thing: Stealth taxes will rise
Elections create uncertainty. But we can be sure of one thing. Regardless of the result, during the course of the
Why companies fail: Don’t look to economic textbooks to master dynamic capitalism
Is setting up a micro brewery a licence to print money? This month, a private equity company acquired 22 per
Britain’s debt dilemma: Not too high, not too low or the UK economy risks disaster
The Bank of England Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has signalled that it has become worried again about debt. Its specific
Anti-growth Welsh leaders are denying their voters prosperity by opposing shale
Leading Welsh politicians seem to be getting ideas above their station. Fifty years ago, Labour held all but four of
Don’t fear robots taking your job – worry about them cutting your wages
Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) seem to be in the news all the time, and breakthroughs are announced regularly. Last
There’s substance to the Trump team’s trade critique of Germany and the Eurozone
President Trump’s administration has made many criticisms of Germany. One of the more important was by his top trade advisor,
Need a reason to cut public sector pay and pensions? Look at Jeremy Corbyn
The shambles over the treatment of National Insurance has dominated the media’s reporting of the recent Budget. But only the
Kenneth Arrow proved economists needn’t be loud to make a difference
Does winning the Nobel Prize in economics cause longevity? We might be forgiven for thinking so. Thomas Schelling died last
Claims that a low tax, low regulation UK would be a disaster are rubbish
Dame Minouche Shafik, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, is leaving to become Director of the London School of
Blame restrictions on the supply of land for new homes for rising wealth inequality
Official data released last week on London house price increases in 2016 generated a lot of interest. Given that housing
A tale of two Eurozones: Greater Germany and Club Med are drifting ever further apart
At the end of last week Federica Mogherini met leading members of the Trump administration. Mogherini, yet another Italian politician
It’s fanciful to think China’s economy will overtake the US’s anytime soon
Possibly the single most important of the tensions stoked up by President Trump is the rivalry between the United States and
Why the economics profession remains blind to the benefits of Brexit
The office for National Statistics last week estimated that the UK economy grew at an annual rate of 2.4 per
Economic Research Council talk: why are so many economists opposed to Brexit?
Economic Research Council talk on Monday 20th February 18.30 – 20.00: I will be discussing why so many economists are opposed
The NHS will never have enough cash: the English religion needs reformation
We British like traditions. A well-established one which comes round every year is the “winter crisis” in the NHS. Health
