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”

Rent controls have been tried, tested, and have failed in numerous European cities. Yet the Mayor of London is campaigning … Continue reading “Rent controls have failed in cities throughout Europe”

These past two weeks have been a grim time for economists. From Transport for London’s decision to revoke Uber’s licence, … Continue reading “Are politicians economically illiterate? Or do they deliberately ignore basic economics?”

Danny Alexander’s plan to make the state a major player in housebuilding is just the latest in a line of … Continue reading “House building pledge is just a cunning PR strategy”

In August, BBC News launched an online calculator which enabled people to work out whether their house was earning more … Continue reading “Liberating the housing market through fiscal decentralisation”

In a more rational world, planning reform would not be a tribal issue. It would, on the contrary, be an … Continue reading “A simple answer to the housing shortage: Relax the planning strait-jacket”

In this new video for ieaTV, IEA Director General Mark Littlewood explains how liberalising the UK’s suffocating planning laws would … Continue reading “Through the roof”

With low productivity, high inflation and terrible industrial relations, in 1977, Britain was a basket case. So that year, businessman … Continue reading “Planning liberalisation is the closest thing there is to an economic silver bullet”

Planning controls constitute a significant denial of private property rights, with serious economic consequences. The most obvious is the severe … Continue reading “Planning and licensing rules impose heavy costs on businesses and consumers”