My Blog
Shouting at the supply-chain: is there a better way?
EVERY year, the supermarkets hire substantial batches of high-flying graduates to work in their buying departments. The urban mythology is
Can Game Theory Help the Greeks?
Game theory is a big topic in academic economics. It is scarcely possible to graduate from a good university without
Birthday parties and the NHS: We Need More Markets
Many outrageous things happened around the world during the course of last week. But, judging by both the level of
Bring Back Cedric the Pig!
Executive bonuses are back in the news. The Goldman Sachs pot of £8.3 billion has been prominent. German executive pay
What the Emily Thornberry saga tells us about macroeconomic policy
It has been a wretched week for Emily Thornberry. The high-flying MP for Islington was sacked as Shadow Attorney General,
Corporate tax is getting easier to avoid. Time to abolish it.
Corporate tax avoidance is once again prominent in the news. When Jean-Claude Juncker, the new European Commission president, was prime
Is Ed Miliband secretly a Rational Economic Person?
Recently, we have seen a very effective piece of forward guidance. Ed Miliband’s statement that Labour would bring in a
All we are saying: give capitalism a chance
Is there a secret Leninist cell operating at a high level in the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels? One which
Public sector pay and pensions are why the deficit stays high
Why can’t the UK government get its deficit down? This question has been exercising commentators recently, in the light of
The Happy Band of the Self Employed
How many workers does the typical American firm employ? Actually, it is a trick question. The answer is ‘zero’. More
Can Nanny make you stop drinking?
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been the butt of much ridicule over the past week.
Groupthink and the troubles at Tesco
The latest fiasco at Tesco could prove an embarrassment for more than just the retailer. There appears to have been an
Low or zero inflation is normal: competition keeps it that way
Fears of deflation are rising across Europe. Inflation keeps edging down to lower and lower rates. Eurostat estimates the rate
Coping with Uncertainty: the Red Hot Topic in Economics
After months of Trappist silence, a whole plethora of large companies has pronounced on the adverse consequences for Scotland of
After the BRICs, the GIPSIs: Tackling Europe’s Problems
The Euro zone lurches into yet another crisis, with fears of deflation and a further drop in output. There are
Wall Street no smarter than Mr and Mrs Average
Lurid stories about the excesses in the UK housing market continue to proliferate. True, there is some evidence of a
Scottish Independence and Fairytale Land
Sir James Mirrlees is one of the mere handful of British recipients of the Nobel Prize in economics. As his
Employment is rising because labour is cheap
The latest employment figures confirm the buoyancy of the UK labour market. In the quarter April-June of this year, employment
The predictability of the Premier League
The Premier League kicks off again this weekend. Given the abysmal showing of our boys in the World Cup, a
Recessions are good for the nation’s health
Many readers at this time of the year will be looking forward to their summer break, perhaps contemplating with a
