In the euro crisis, the EU has suspended accountable government, and the rule of (EU) law has become the continuation of politics by other means In his great speech on EU immigration last Friday the Prime Minister called for radical changes in the availability of UK state benefits to immigrants from elsewhere in the EU. […]
When David Cameron used his speech to Conservative party conference to announce that he wants to increase income tax thresholds there was uproar from his critics on the left. How dare the Prime Minister promise a tax cut when the UK is still running a giant deficit and adding to the debt burden with each […]
The recent world of political economy features the deep paradox. By common consent Thomas Piketty’s recent volume Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been hailed of the intellectual triumph of the year. Its bold recommendations make the theoretical case for a global income tax in the range of 54 to 80—a figure that has also […]
Suppose I were to tell you that the world’s super-rich are pulling further away from the mass of humanity. Suppose I were to cite the latest figures, showing that the top one per cent now own half the world’s wealth while the bottom 50 per cent own just one per cent. How does that make […]
There is surely something surreal about watching the vanquished dictate terms to the victors. Yet that is what is happening as the SNP, recently defeated in Scotland’s independence referendum, dictates a new constitutional and fiscal settlement to the rest of the United Kingdom, using the so-called Smith Commission – authors of the most irresponsible document […]
November 30, 2014 might become a date for the Swiss history books. This upcoming Sunday, more than 5 million voters are called to the ballot to decide on three important issues launched by popular initiative: immigration, monetary policy and flat-rate taxation for wealthy foreigners. From an economic point of view, all three are problematic. With […]
“This won’t turn out to be as peachy as it looks,” said my cabbie as he dropped me off. He was finishing a conversation that I had begun shortly after he picked me up on Pall Mall in central London. We were now pulling up at my favourite pub in Hammersmith, so it was a […]
Oil prices, today at $78 a barrel, have fallen from a high of over $115 earlier this year, creating difficulties for a number of producer countries. OPEC will meet tomorrow in Vienna to agree production quotas for its members. Here are 4 things you need to know about tomorrow’s OPEC meeting. 1. Oil producers are struggling to […]
Britain is in the midst of two political earthquakes. The spectacular rise in support for UKIP and the SNP each have the potential to unhinge British politics to a degree not seen for a century. Whether this happens depends upon how the established political parties respond. Neither denial nor panic has worked. They could do […]
If I had to identify the most successful conservative leader of my lifetime, I’d point without hesitation to Australia’s John Howard. Winning four elections (to Reagan’s two and Thatcher’s three), the amiable cricket-lover used his time in office to make transformative changes, giving Australia a growth rate it hadn’t known since the gold rush. Like […]
Deepak Lal’s third article in his three part series on capitalism and inequality. My first and lasting impression of America, echoed by numerous observers from the hierarchical societies of Europe and Asia, was the absence of class, despite great inequalities of income and wealth. But today, many see a class society emerging in America. An important book […]
Deepak Lal’s second article in his three part series on capitalism and inequality. One of the abiding myths of ‘development economics’, and now with the stagnation of middle class incomes in the US also in developed economises, has been that economic growth accompanied by an increase in inequality will not ‘trickle down’ to the poor. My […]
Deepak Lal introduces the first of his three part series on capitalism and inequality. In September my wife and I toured Indo-China. After seeing the glories of the partially restored Hindu temples of Angkor Wat, we cruised down past the lush fields of the reversed Mekong river from Siem Reap to Saigon, making various stops- […]
What is missing from Piketty’s whole thesis, and from the views of many others in this field, is the potential – which he largely ignores – for spreading the ownership of capital itself more equitably in society. Instead of further attacking income with blunt and dubiously effective tax weapons, a much nobler, and more practical […]
I love the idea that prosperity can be decreed by a G20 communiqué. World leaders in Brisbane have airily committed themselves to two per cent growth. (Why only two per cent? Why not 20 per cent? Or 200 per cent? Who knew it was so easy?) Meanwhile, in the real world, the divergence between Continental […]
The American economy is back, with a remarkable growth rate above 3% and an unemployment rate under 6%. Every political leader, central banker or economic pundit claims to be the one who vanquished the 2008 financial crisis. What if none of the above claimants played any role in the recovery? Looking at long trends in economic growth, […]
Watch or listen to CapX’s weekly podcast ‘The Capitalist’ wherever you get your podcasts.
