Commenting on Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s speech to Labour Party Conference, Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “John McDonnell’s speech today was the epitome of fantasy economics. The very fact the Shadow Chancellor is proudly trumpeting Labour as a party of interventionism despite its catastrophic historical record should worry both … Continue reading “McDonnell speech was economically illiterate”
New IEA report on The Economics of International Development
Leading economist Professor William Easterly contends that foreign aid and development efforts often fail in alleviating poverty by focusing on technocratic solutions rather than addressing the battle of ideas and advocating freedom over dictatorship. There is a ‘technocratic illusion’ that we can ignore politics in development efforts. But the problem of poverty is not down … Continue reading “Former World Bank economist says advancing political & economic freedom is the way to alleviate poverty”
IEA releases report on what UK fisheries policy should look like outside the EU
The UK must seize the opportunity to regain control over fisheries policy in the wake of Brexit. Leaving the EU will allow this, regardless of future trade arrangements. The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy has been inefficient and damaging to sustainability for all member states; instead the UK should look to adopt similar policies to those … Continue reading “Adopt Icelandic style fisheries policy to boost sustainability, argues IEA”
The United Kingdom ranks 10th out of 159 countries and territories included in the Economic Freedom of the World: 2016 Annual Report released today by the Institute of Economic Affairs in conjunction with Canada’s Fraser Institute. The UK’s ranking is unchanged from last year’s. Commenting on the report’s findings, Professor Philip Booth, Editorial and Programme Director at … Continue reading “Global economic freedom slightly up; UK ranks 10th among 159 jurisdictions”
Commenting on the news that the government is set to approve the building of Hinkley Point, Professor Philip Booth, Academic and Research Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs said: “Hinkley Point demonstrates the folly of “industrial strategy”. The government is backing a hugely expensive way of producing electricity on the spurious grounds that it … Continue reading “Hinkley is an incredibly inefficient use of taxpayers’ money”
Housing in the UK, and renting in particular, is the most expensive in Europe with average rents almost 50% higher than those in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France. In the UK, tenants are spending 10-20% more of their incomes on rent payments than their European counterparts. Rent controls are increasingly popular and firmly back … Continue reading “Rent controls would worsen UK housing crisis”
IEA releases new report on fixed-odds betting terminals
The claim that fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) are ‘the crack cocaine’ of gambling is both exaggerated and unfounded. In a new briefing from the Institute of Economic Affairs, author Christopher Snowdon challenges the common myth that problem gambling is on the rise and that FOBTs are to blame for this. Much of the moral panic … Continue reading “Moral panic surrounding fixed-odds betting terminals baseless and unwarranted”
Corporation tax is no longer fit for purpose and must be abolished. The government should replace it with a tax on earnings distributed to shareholders, alongside a broad simplification of the UK tax code. Politicians continually conflate and misunderstand the nature of corporation tax; it is not paid by corporations, but by shareholders, workers and … Continue reading “Scrap archaic corporation tax now to avoid another fiasco over payments”
Smoking, along with other tobacco and nicotine use, is often discussed as if it were a disease rather than an individual consumption decision. This disconnect creates confusion and bad government policies, especially in the context of the “tobacco harm reduction” approach of substituting low-risk products, including e-cigarettes and snus, for cigarettes. A new report from … Continue reading “Abolish excise duties on e-cigarettes to reduce harm, argues new report”
Commenting on the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ report out today on the gender pay gap, Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “This study tells us little that we did not already know. If anything, the IFS has provided us with more evidence that the wage gap has nothing to do … Continue reading “Employer discrimination not to blame for the gender pay gap”
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