IEA Featured Publications
9 May 2017
SMPC
SMPC votes seven / two to raise Bank Rate in May
At its April 2017 face-to-face meeting, the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC) voted by seven to two, to raise Bank rate in May. This is the biggest vote for a rise since rates were cut to their historic lows. Of the seven members favouring a raise, four preferred a rise of 1/4% and three a ...
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9 May 2017
Edited by Dr Richard Wellings
14 April 2017
Research
Capitalise on Brexit to free UK from damaging EU Common Fisheries Policy
Summary: Global fish catches in the seas and oceans have stagnated since the mid 1990s. A decline in the quality of fish landed has been evident in several major regions and some fisheries have experienced collapses in stocks of valuable species such as cod. Because there are generally no established property rights in wild fish, fisheries ...
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Edited by Dr Richard Wellings
14 April 2017
6 April 2017
Research
Winning essay for the IEA Richard Koch Breakthrough Prize
Winner of £50,000 prize: Mark Feldner and Mathew Bonnon For more information about the IEA Breakthrough Prize please visit www.breakthroughprize.org.uk Summary: Free-market principles are about more than commerce alone. Competition, accountability and choice, the major pillars of economic liberalism, can equally be applied to our political system. We outline a radical vision of regional tax ...
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6 April 2017
Diego Zuluaga
23 March 2017
Research
Brexit provides real opportunity to bring down electricity bills for low-income households
Executive Summary: Electricity charges for households in England and Wales have risen by 50 per cent in real terms since 2001, partly as a result of policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The decarbonisation policies adopted have been complex and inefficient, and have also been contradicted by other measures such as the reduced rate of VAT ...
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Diego Zuluaga
23 March 2017
13 March 2017
SMPC
SMPC votes seven / two to raise bank rate in March
In its March 2017 e-mail poll, the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC) elected, by a vote of Seven to Two, to raise rates in March. Three members voted for an immediate rise of 0.5%. Fourther favoured a 0.25% rise. Advocates of raising rates noted that economic growth is steady, monetary growth has been strong, inflation ...
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13 March 2017
Philip Booth
6 March 2017
Research
Executive Summary: When applied to investments in company shares, capital gains tax is generally a double tax because it taxes anticipated profits and retained profits that are taxed elsewhere in the system. It should therefore be abolished. Where investments are designed to hide income as capital gains, income tax should be charged on investment returns ...
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Philip Booth
6 March 2017
Christopher Snowdon
2 March 2017
Research
Healthy food cheaper than 'junk food', finds new IEA research
Summary: It is widely believed that healthy eating is relatively expensive whereas ‘junk food’ is relatively cheap. This has led to an assumption that poor diets and obesity are directly caused by economic deprivation. Some studies have compared the price-per-calorie of various types of food. The inherent bias of this method has the effect of making many ...
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Christopher Snowdon
2 March 2017
Terry Miller & Anthony B. Kim
28 February 2017
Co-Published Books
The twenty-third edition of the Heritage Foundation's popular survey of economic liberty
The results of the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom find that Europe became slightly more economically free than last year: from 66.9 points free on the 0-100 scale used in the Index to 68.0 free. The scores of 30 countries in the European region have improved and those of 14 have declined. Factors such as property ...
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Terry Miller & Anthony B. Kim
28 February 2017
16 February 2017
Economic Affairs
Subscribe to Economic Affairs Contents: Introduction (page 1) by J. R. Shackleton Britain and Europe: What Ways Forward? (pages 2–14) by Harold James A Perfect Impasse? Cuba's Move Towards the Market and the United States' Move Towards Cuba (pages 19–35) by Stephen Wilkinson Shifting from Undersupply to Oversupply: Does NHS Workforce Planning Need a Paradigm Shift? ...
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16 February 2017
Christopher Snowdon
15 February 2017
Research
IEA calls for 9p flat rate of tax on alcohol to fix illogical system
Summary: Excessive drinking creates costs to public services which the government can recoup through alcohol taxes, thereby making drinkers internalise the costs. However, in Britain, the alcohol duty regime is excessive and illogical. Not only do revenues from alcohol duty far exceed the costs to public services, but units of alcohol are taxed at dramatically ...
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Christopher Snowdon
15 February 2017
