I’ve got an idea for an alternative history novel, an alternate timeline in which the fall of the Berlin Wall … Continue reading “An alternative history: what ‘democratic socialism’ would have looked like”

The BBC Charter is currently under consultation for renewal, so it’s an ideal time to consider if a license fee … Continue reading “The case against the BBC licence fee”

As a new report from the Institute of Economic Affairs explains this week, the tale we are told about inequality in … Continue reading “Is envy of the super-rich by the rest of the rich driving the inequality debate?”

Several anticapitalist slogans riff on the contrast between people and profit, and nobody thinks John Lennon’s song “Power to the … Continue reading “Only capitalism delivers true ‘People Power’. Everything else is just state power”

Today, the IEA publishes ‘In Focus: The Case for Privatising the BBC’. My chapter examined instances of bias in BBC … Continue reading “BBC bias by presentation: a case study of think tanks”

To the non-economist, all goods and services are the same in terms of their basic nature, however much they vary … Continue reading “Broadcasting is a club good, not a public good. BBC channels should become subscription channels”

At the end of last year, the IEA published Forever contemporary, its monograph commemorating the life and intellectual legacy of … Continue reading “Coase and the quest for an economics of the real world”

The government is currently considering responses to a submission on whether it should take action on ticket touts. We do … Continue reading “Simon Jenkins is wrong. Non-transferable concert tickets are perfectly legitimate”

“Social market economy” is a vague slogan in European political debate. The term originated in Germany. But what does it … Continue reading “Ludwig Erhard’s social market economy – a liberal, not a social democratic concept”