Dear John, Competition policy currently has an undue emphasis on private business and impediments to competition arising from the activities … Continue reading “An open letter to John Penrose MP on the Competition and Markets Authority”

It is no wonder the electorate supports a windfall tax to try to deal with the costs of the pandemic. … Continue reading “Windfall taxes are no free lunch”

The Government has appointed a panel to review the future of public service broadcasting. We can be wholly confident that … Continue reading “We should expunge the term “public service broadcasting””

According to much of the journalistic commentary, Pope Francis has recently issued an encyclical on economics. Reuters, the New York … Continue reading “Is Pope Francis’s new encyclical an attack on capitalism?”

The BBC has come under severe criticism recently for the way in which some of its senior figures seem to … Continue reading “There is neither an economic nor a cultural case for a compulsory TV licence fee”

There is no doubt that California is in a big fiscal hole. It relies heavily on income taxes from wealthy … Continue reading “California’s wealth tax won’t work – the UK shouldn’t copy it”

YES – says Kristian Niemietz  The “Dementia Tax”, which was essentially a more stringent means-testing regime for determining eligibility for … Continue reading “IEA Debate: Is a German-style social insurance system for social care the way to go?”

Interestingly, Pope Francis has talked about distributive justice in an intergenerational context in relation to climate change. The argument is … Continue reading “Can government debt be justified? Distributive justice, intergenerational equity and Catholic social teaching”

Milton Friedman once said that “Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make … Continue reading “Liberalising planning rules would help the economy adjust to changing business patterns”