After nearly two decades of weak growth, stagnant wages and stubbornly high inequality – alongside one of the worst productivity records in the developed world since the financial crisis – Britain’s central problem is how to get the economy growing again. We don’t build enough homes. We don’t generate enough cheap energy. We don’t invest […]
How much would you pay a doctor if you urgently needed one – e.g., if you were having a heart attack? This is, of course, a trope familiar to anyone who pays attention to doctors striking over pay in the NHS. I am prepared to admit that I would pay a cardiologist rather a lot […]
2. Ownership and nationhood: the fight for economic belonging 4. The unchecked and the unaccountable: seizing the economic levers 5. A family big bang: putting children at the heart of growth 6. Trust is the precondition for economic growth 7. Out of the shadows: a Conservative tax revolution . The Friendly Giants: Breaking Free from […]
Taylor Swift has monopolised the hearts and minds of young women for well over a decade, and cemented her status as the preeminent musical icon of our era winning her fourth Best Album Grammy last weekend. But given that competition is just as important in the arts as it is for free markets, how worried […]
The British love nothing more than a story about a twee, mediocre national icon, bringing us together in slightly self-conscious, self-deprecating pride/outrage (delete as appropriate). So in these tense times, Marks and Spencer claiming violations of its intellectual property rights over the bafflingly popular Colin the Caterpillar cake has been gratefully seized upon. Last week, […]
With Britain’s vaccination programme exceeding all expectations, there has been a renewed focus on the challenges the economy faces. For the Government, delivering prosperity will require a new emphasis on manufacturing, which will have important implications for plans to ‘level up’. Manufacturing is at the heart of the economy across the regions of the UK. […]
At the weekend, I put up a tweet suggesting that supporters of the BBC make mutually exclusive claims when they say that the organisation produces world class, universally adored programmes for a bargain price but that it would be financially ruinous if the licence fee were replaced by a subscription (in which those who pay […]
Judging from our dealings with China, it can be hard to work out if Britain actually has a foreign policy. The way our stance on Beijing has spun so dramatically over the last couple of decades would have made a revolving door dizzy, as I’ve outlined before. There is, however, a charitable case to be […]
A political leader who has just secured a large majority has rarely regretted doing too much, too quickly. Boris Johnson’s extraordinary opportunity for radical reform of the structures of government and economy must not be wasted. The challenge of delivering a successful economy for everyone is immense. So here are five ideas for the new government […]
A little over two weeks ago, in typically unorthodox fashion, Dominic Cummings uploaded his thoughts about the ongoing election onto his personal blog. For the most part, the Prime Minister’s strategist stuck largely to his campaign’s core script, albeit with more capital letters and tirades about Dominic Grieve. Yet towards the end of the article, […]
Among the maelstrom of election news stories that broke yesterday was one that will be music to the ears of many free-marketeers. Responding to a question from a member of the public, Boris Johnson said that the BBC licence fee should be “looked at” and questioned how “justified” the current funding model from “a general tax” could be in the long term. […]
Nato’s birthday celebrations were marred by a row between two of the guests, Presidents Macron and Trump, over both the health of the military alliance and France’s decision to hit US firms with a new digital tax. This row has at least drawn attention to the potential conflict between tech taxes and international rules that […]
Scotland’s ‘other national drink,’ Irn Bru, was stockpiled in January by fans who disapproved of the impending reformulation to halve the amount of sugar in favour of sweetener. The ‘Hands off our Irn Bru’ campaign, which had over 53,000 supporters, declared that they “would far rather pay more for a bottle than have an altered […]
Entrepreneurship policy might not grab the headlines when each party sets out its stall in an election, but if you get it right, it’s a heck of a lot easier to do everything else. Entrepreneurial endeavours have taken humanity from subsistence to relative affluence and it is entrepreneurs who will raise the living standards of […]
https://media.acast.com/capx/freeexchange-timkaneonthedeclineofgreatpowers/media.mp3 Our guest this week is entrepreneur, economist, air force veteran and latterly candidate for the US Congress, Tim Kane. Tim is also the co-author with Glenn Hubbard of the acclaimed book Balance: The Economics of Great Powers from Ancient Rome to Modern America – I started by asking him about the thesis behind the […]
What is the future of capitalism? This week’s Free Exchange exchange, recorded live at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, debates just that. Our Editor John Ashmore chaired an expert panel including the RSA’s Alan Lockey, digital policy expert Casey Calista and fellow of the Adam Smith Institute and self-declared inventor of neoliberalism, Sam Bowman, […]
