“The further contraction in the UK economy in October confirms that Budget speculation has killed growth. Indeed, the latest business surveys suggest that November was even worse. “The burst of growth ...

This article was first published on the Institute of Economic Affairs Substack. Official figures recently published by HMRC indicate a huge rise in illicit tobacco sales in the UK since 2021. The ...

When this blog was launched over a decade ago, most of my articles were rebuttals of the latest nonsense I had read in the Guardian or the Independent. Those publications are, unfortunately, still ...

The UK’s trade patterns with the EU fail to show a Brexit effect, either since the referendum or the end of the transition period. Trade continued to grow between 2016 and the conclusion of the Brexit ...

Each year, the Government publishes international energy price comparisons. The data is sourced from the IEA and covers industrial and domestic gas and electricity prices. The latest data for 2023 was ...

‘Market failure’ is a term widely used by politicians, journalists and university and A-level economics students and teachers. However, those who use the term often lack any sense of proportion about ...

The overview highlights the academic consensus on harmful consequences. Most studies (56 out of 65) find that rent controls succeed in lowering rents for controlled units, as intended. However, 14 out ...

April 19 2016, Free Republic, Bernie’s right – America should be more like Sweden; But not in the way he thinks April 19 2016, Reason, Bernie’s right – America should be more like Sweden; But not in ...

Despite some relative improvements in the last fifteen years, the National Health Service remains an international laggard in terms of those health outcomes that can be attributed to the healthcare ...

Forced technology transfer and China (pages 306-319) by Bob Carbaugh Chad Wassell The case for freedom revisited (pages 320-329) by Roland Vaubel Is energy security really too important to leave to ...

SMPC votes seven / two to raise Bank Rate in May Legal restrictions on the terms and conditions under which employment takes place have a long history in the UK. Since the mid 1960s, however, ...

Denmark’s tax on saturated fat was hailed as a world-leading public health policy when it was introduced in October 2011, but it was abandoned fifteen months later when the unintended consequences ...