Ever since the first mass-produced passenger car rolled off the assembly line a century ago, the auto industry has invested in innovation. Flashing turn signals, cruise control, anti-lock brakes, power steering, airbags and my personal favourite, the cup holder. The industry invests vast sums in research and development every year — around €100 billion in […]
Over the past decade, the British people have become more entrepreneurial. Fifteen years ago, Brits were just as likely to be engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial pursuits as Germans and the French. Today, Britain has become a ‘mid-Atlantic’ economy. We may not be as entrepreneurial as Americans, but we’ve broken ahead of Germany and France. One […]
With the support of the Atlas Network, CapX is publishing a new series of essays on the theme of Illiberalism in Europe, looking at the different threats to liberal economies and societies across the continent, from populism to protectionism and corruption. Richard Findlay is a farmer in the North York Moors National Park between York […]
It’s hard to overstate the severity of Scotland’s drug problem. Figures published in July revealed that 1,187 people north of the border died drug-related deaths in 2018, triple the rate of England and Wales, more than the rest of Europe and – shockingly – even greater than the United States, where there is a well-publicised […]
If Brussels did not have enough on its plate with the prospect of a No Deal Brexit, preparations for its new institutional cycle and long-term budget negotiations, there is now a political crisis in Italy, one of the EU’s founding members. The populist coalition between the Five Star Movement and the Lega managed to stay […]
A slight weirdness about the world is that it is, often enough, cheaper to raise workers’ wages than reduce them. This is not the output of some righteous woke model where being deferential to employees pays dividends, this is a matter of cold hard cash. It’s also the solution to the current recruiting woes of the […]
Can the Government end freedom of movement immediately in the event of a No Deal Brexit? Almost certainly not – or at least not in a way that would meet most people’s common-sense intuitions about what that would mean. So the political message from new Home Secretary Priti Patel that the Government is determined to […]
European defence is approaching something of a paradox – high on ambition, low on capability. As the recent antagonisms in the Persian Gulf give way to a renewed flurry of diplomacy, all eyes are on the French resort town of Biarritz where G7 leaders have their annual summit this weekend. Discussions on defence and security […]
Leftwing thinktank IPPR North has published a short paper on transport investment in different parts of the UK. To anyone from or living in the north, a quick glance at its executive summary makes for grim but not particularly surprising reading. Looking at historic data, IPPR North argue that over the past decade average annual […]
The losing gambler syndrome The losing gambler syndrome, better known in economic circles as the sunk costs fallacy, is a fact of human nature that casino magnates well understand. When someone losses big at the tables, invariably they have an overwhelming urge to invest ever more resources to make good on their catastrophic losses. Dad […]
What, ministers asked their civil servants, might happen if the UK were to leave the EU without a deal? What would be the best and the worst-case scenarios? So off their civil servants went, preparing a report which outlined precisely that; the best and worst case as to what might happen. This report into the […]
With the recent inversion of the yield curve sparking recession fears in the United States, and the stock market swinging wildly in response to the ongoing trade negotiations with China, some are wondering if the longest economic expansion in American history may soon come to an end. Those uncertainties bring renewed urgency to the age-old […]
Strange things are happening in Russia. What would usually have been routine municipal elections have triggered some of the biggest protests in years – led by, of all political forces, libertarians – but scratch beneath the surface and it makes a lot more sense. Back in 2012, Russians took to the streets protesting against rigged […]
Newspaper headlines over the weekend had suggested that the new Chancellor, Sajid Javid, was planning to switch the liability for stamp duty from house buyers to sellers. Thankfully, Javid has now quashed this story in no uncertain terms. At most, this switch might have provided some help to liquidity in a few cases, but it would be unlikely to […]
The escalating protests in Hong Kong are not just an internal Chinese dispute, but the clash of two competing visions – of people fighting for their civil rights in the face of a mighty, callous police state. China’s presentation of the dispute as the actions of a bunch of lawless thugs, rather than a mass […]
This week marks 50 years since The Battle of the Bogside, which led to the deployment of British troops in Northern Ireland, and is considered to be the start of The Troubles. In recent months, the scars of Northern Ireland’s sectarian past have been clearly on display. This week’s anniversary has been marked by consecutive […]
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