An Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Dr Eamonn Butler
21 October 2020
Research

An Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs play a pivotal role in boosting progress, productivity and prosperity. They drive economic growth and create new opportunities. Their innovations transform people’s lives. Yet their enormous contribution is not widely understood – and is often completely overlooked in economics textbooks. Here, author Eamonn Butler sets the record straight – explaining the vital role of ... Continue reading
Dr Eamonn Butler
21 October 2020
Share
Download

Pubs and COVID-19: Flawed claims and faulty reasoning

9 October 2020
Research

Pubs and COVID-19: Flawed claims and faulty reasoning

Summary Most COVID-19 infections appear to take place in private households. Less than five per cent of infected individuals contacted by NHS Test and Trace say that they have had close contact with another person in a hospitality venue. Enforced pub closures in Bolton and Leicester have not been associated with a decline in transmission ... Continue reading
9 October 2020
Share

How to create new jobs

Professor Len Shackleton
8 October 2020
Research

How to create new jobs

Summary Following the Covid-19 lockdown, the UK labour market faces much higher unemployment and reductions in labour force participation as some groups withdraw from the labour market. Measures such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-employment Income Support Scheme served a useful purpose, but governments cannot keep businesses on life support indefinitely. Job ... Continue reading
Professor Len Shackleton
8 October 2020
Share
Download
PRESS RELEASE

The Chancellor’s Post-Pandemic Choices

Neil Record
5 October 2020
Research

The Chancellor’s Post-Pandemic Choices

Conditions for growth are not a mystery – we have seen them in the UK in the recent past. This paper examines the UK’s historical record, and identifies the best-performing periods in the past 40 years under two criteria: rising real government revenue and rising labour productivity. It then reviews the economic policies which facilitated ... Continue reading
Neil Record
5 October 2020
Share
Download
PRESS RELEASE

You had one job: The shortcomings of Public Health England and the World Health Organization during the Covid-19 pandemic

Christopher Snowdon
4 September 2020
Research

You had one job: The shortcomings of Public Health England and the World Health Organization during the Covid-19 pandemic

Summary The World Health Organization (WHO) and Public Health England (PHE) have been widely criticised for their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Serious questions have been asked regarding their competence. As a result, the US government has withdrawn its funding from WHO and the UK government has announced that Public Health England will be disbanded. ... Continue reading
Christopher Snowdon
4 September 2020
Share
Download
PRESS RELEASE

The response to the pandemic: A Hayekian view

Mark Pennington
26 August 2020
Research

The response to the pandemic: A Hayekian view

Summary Socio-economic systems should be understood as ‘complex’ phenomena that cannot effectively be controlled or managed through central planning. In general, markets and other decentralised governance mechanisms that rely on competition and signalling are better placed to facilitate learning and adaptation in conditions of complexity. Pandemics such as the new coronavirus are also complex systems ... Continue reading
Mark Pennington
26 August 2020
Share
Download

To a radical degree

Dr Stephen Davies
13 August 2020
Research

To a radical degree

Reshaping the UK's Higher Education for the post-pandemic world

Summary Covid-19 is bursting the bubble in universities and higher education (HE), exposing the fundamentally unsound nature of the policy of successive governments and of the entire array of HE institutions. Many institutions were in a weak financial position prior to the pandemic. They are now facing a massive cash-flow crisis. The present difficulties could ... Continue reading
Dr Stephen Davies
13 August 2020
Share
Download
PRESS RELEASE

Chinese puzzle: A classical liberal approach to post-pandemic relations with China

Dr Stephen Davies and Professor Syed Kamall
6 August 2020
Research

Chinese puzzle: A classical liberal approach to post-pandemic relations with China

Summary Covid–19 is provoking a major reorientation of the foreign policy of the US and Europe. At the heart of this is their changing relationship with China. Before the Coronavirus there were concerns over the actions of the Chinese government, but the pandemic has given rise to fears of a new Cold War. These fears ... Continue reading
Dr Stephen Davies and Professor Syed Kamall
6 August 2020
Share
Download
PRESS RELEASE

SMPC votes unanimously to Hold Bank Rate in August

31 July 2020
Research

SMPC votes unanimously to Hold Bank Rate in August

In its meeting of 14th July 2020, held by video-conference due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC) elected, by a vote of nine to zero, to hold rates in August. Five members favoured holding Quantitative Easing (QE) at its current level. Two favoured reducing QE. Three expressed a bias to raise ... Continue reading
31 July 2020
Share
Download

How strong are British banks?

Professor Kevin Dowd and Dr Dean Buckner
31 July 2020
Research

How strong are British banks?

and can they pass the Covid-19 stress test?

Summary The Bank of England maintains that UK banks are strongly capitalised. The evidence from banks’ share prices and market values contradicts this claim. Banks are more fragile now than they were going into the last crisis. The Bank of England’s failure to ensure the resilience of the banking system suggests a need for radical ... Continue reading
Professor Kevin Dowd and Dr Dean Buckner
31 July 2020
Share
Download
PRESS RELEASE