This article is based on David B. Smith’s Politeia paper ‘The UK Government Spending Ratio: Back to the 1930s?’. Some … Continue reading “Government spending: ‘Back to the 30s’ claims are nonsense on stilts”

The fallout from the Autumn Statement has mainly revolved around one Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) graph and the words … Continue reading “Is George Osborne really returning us to a 1930s government? Accurate comparisons suggest a definite ‘no’”

With total non-oil taxes equivalent to more than 78% of residual private-sector GDP measured at factor cost once government spending … Continue reading “The British economy is on the wrong side of the Laffer curve”

There seems to be near-lunatic policy inconsistency between the employment of the controversial and potentially dangerous policy of quantitative easing … Continue reading “Quantitative easing and tighter banking regulation: a lunatic combination?”

Britain now faces one of the most serious fiscal crises in its peacetime history. One reason is that the UK … Continue reading “Britain faces worst ever peacetime fiscal crisis”