There is a lively debate among economists about the ways in which UK statisticians have estimated the impact of Covid-19 … Continue reading “The relatively large fall in UK GDP partly reflects better data”

This Sunday the Observer ran a frontpage story headlined ‘rightwing thinktanks call time on austerity era’. I was quoted in … Continue reading “No, Observer: free-market think-tanks have not changed their tune”

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell plans to put a pilot scheme for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) into the next Labour … Continue reading “Universal Basic Income – do the sums add up?”

The staff at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) are the best public finance number-crunchers in the UK. But last … Continue reading “Are there really no alternatives to tax increases (as the IFS claims)?”

Will there ever be a sum of money that satisfies the demands of the UK’s public services? It’s hard to … Continue reading “Government spending is around 40% of GDP. If that is not enough to eradicate child poverty – how much is?”

As countries get richer, the demand for government (particularly fiscal transfers) rises. That in essence is the key message of … Continue reading “Is making the case for smaller government pointless?”

There has been much debate over the past six years about the supposedly deep cuts in government spending—with comparisons ranging … Continue reading “To create growth, taxes and government spending must be radically cut”

How large were cuts to government spending during the last parliament? The answer may surprise you. Overall real expenditure fell … Continue reading “Forget horse-trading over cuts: The Spending Review is an opportunity to rethink the state”

The law of diminishing marginal utility is one of the most basic concepts in economics. What it means is that … Continue reading “This is not a ‘neoliberal’ age. This is an age of hyper-statism”