IEA Featured Publications
15 September 2019
Research
An email poll of members of the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC) carried out in late August, and early September 2019 resulted in a vote to keep interest rates on hold by six to three, the same margin as in July. Three dissenters wanted to raise rates by ¼% immediately and then gradually to around ...
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15 September 2019
Eamonn Butler
29 August 2019
Research
101 Great Liberal Thinkers
SCHOOL OF THOUGHT – 101 Great Liberal Thinkers profiles the lives and ideas of some of the leading thinkers on individual liberty – from ancient times to the present day. Award-winning author Eamonn Butler outlines key elements of liberal thought and takes a chronological look at those who shaped it across the centuries. He identifies ...
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Eamonn Butler
29 August 2019
16 August 2019
Research
Why the policy of food reformulation is hard to stomach
Under the UK government’s policy of ‘reformulation’, food products are subject to government targets for the reduction of salt, sugar and calories. It puts Public Health England in the position of monitoring and effectively regulating the composition of virtually every part of the prepared food supply, including not only ready-meals and supermarket biscuits but also ...
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16 August 2019
31 July 2019
SMPC
In July 2019 the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC) voted by six three to keep Bank rate at 0.75%. Concerns about Brexit was one of the critical reasons that those that voted to keep rates on hold did so. Uncertainty about a deal, its terms and an extension of the deadline for the UK to ...
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31 July 2019
22 July 2019
Research
How to solve the United Kingdom's housing crisis
The United Kingdom’s housing costs are now among the highest on earth, the economic and social impacts severe. Since 1970, the average price of a house has risen four and a half-fold after inflation. No other OECD country has experienced a price increase of this magnitude over this period. London is virtually the most expensive ...
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22 July 2019
Professor Philip Booth
19 July 2019
Research
The example of financial services
There are frequent calls for financial markets to be more actively regulated. In nearly all cases it is assumed that regulation must come from state agencies such as the Financial Conduct Authority or the Prudential Regulation Authority. This analysis arises from neo-classical, market-failure approaches to economics which suggest that the market does not maximise welfare ...
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Professor Philip Booth
19 July 2019
4 July 2019
Research
...and the lessons we can learn
Education reforms that allow new educational providers to supply schooling into a state system can improve parental satisfaction and raise learning outcomes through consumer choice. Private school choice programmes in the US have been shown to strengthen the civic virtues of young citizens. Choice provides children with schooling that matches their interests. A child engaged ...
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4 July 2019
19 June 2019
Economic Affairs
Subscribe to Economic Affairs Contents: Introduction (page 169) ‘Market failure’ arguments are a poor guide to policy (pages 170-183) by Ryan Bourne The political economy of ‘ordered competition’ in European telecoms (pages 184-196) by Dmitrii Trubnikov Ekaterina Trubnikova Is entrepreneurship a virtue? (pages 197-215) by Robert C B Miller The Internet's impact on trademark applications ...
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19 June 2019
16 June 2019
SMPC
Based on its email conducted during early June 2019, the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC) voted by a margin of five to four to keep Bank rate at 0.75%. As in May, the vote remains close, with four wanting a ¼ point rise. Those voting to raise rates focussed on the strength of the consumer ...
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16 June 2019
Shanker Singham
14 June 2019
Research
Opportunities and challenges for UK agriculture
This paper examines the current state of UK agriculture and makes recommendations as to what the long term goals of a UK agricultural policy could be, after the UK leaves the EU, in a way that maximises the potential benefits of a genuinely independent agricultural policy, while minimising the disruptions caused by leaving the EU. ...
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Shanker Singham
14 June 2019
