The BHS pension scheme has a deficit of £571m, which may mean that some of the pensions of its members … Continue reading “The Robespierre of the pension system”

Last week two new financial regulatory bodies were launched, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, to replace … Continue reading “Insanity and regulation”

At the height of the financial crisis the US government dramatically bailed out the insurer AIG. Last week it sold … Continue reading “The road to zombiedom”

In the debate about how to deal with ongoing financial problems, many economists argue that the private sector, faced with … Continue reading “Government should focus on delivering higher quality services for less money”

The Treasury has recently published Whole of Government Accounts (WGAs), which for the first time include an estimate of the … Continue reading “True level of UK government debt exceeds £5 trillion”

A couple of years ago, in an IEA paper, I suggested that the UK’s public debt was many times larger … Continue reading “The true scale of UK government debt”

Imagine a parallel universe where the money supply is determined by the performance of the England cricket team (I haven’t … Continue reading “Bankers’ bonuses: not seeing the willow for the trees”

I suspect that I am less of a disciple of the Austrian School of economics than many readers and many … Continue reading “Austrians, poker and bubbles”

Earlier this year I published a report estimating British government debt at £4.8 trillion . However, over the summer the Office for National … Continue reading “It’s official – the British government owes trillions”