One of the Conservative Party’s major promises to emerge in its party conference was the promise of tax cuts to reduce the burden of government on hardworking families who do the right thing. Many critics…
Mark Carney and Mario Draghi are fortunate men. Although things may appear difficult now, they could be much worse. War in Iraq, Syria and Eastern Ukraine have the potential to send oil and gas prices…
Something strange is afoot in the Office of National Statistics. Every time the Chancellor of the Exchequer takes a bow for his outstanding economic management, the ONS dumps cold water on him. The ONS…
After all those years of flat-line economic performance in the UK economy and declining real incomes, we’ve seen quite a turn around. The growth rate is now one of the best in Europe, house prices are…
The UK’s national income, gross national product (GDP), returned this month to its peak level in 2008. By my count that is six years to get back to where we were, the slowest recovery on record. Still…
Britain is booming! At least, that’s what George Osborne would have us believe. Casual observers could be forgiven for thinking that the UK economy has indeed entered into a robust recovery from the deep…
What does the now sustained recovery in the UK and the still tentative signs of recovery in the eurozone tell us? According to some on the right, it says all is good in the world, austerity has been successful…
If Cameron is the heir to Blair, Osborne is the heir to Brown. His budgets have always been intensely political. The serious fiscal work now goes on in the spending review and the autumn statement. Budgets…
John Van Reenen, London School of Economics and Political Science; Anna Valero, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Joao Paulo Pessoa, London School of Economics and Political Science
The latest data from the ONS show that the UK’s productivity gap with other G7 nations is at its widest since 1992. This bad news comes against the backdrop of increased optimism as the economy seems finally…
In a new report, Working For The Few, Oxfam warns that the fight against poverty cannot be won until wealth inequality has been tackled. The wealth of the richest 1% in the world amounts to $110 trillion…
The Scottish independence referendum campaign has now been raging for 18 months, ever since the Yes Scotland (pro-independence) and Better Together (anti-independence) umbrella organisations were launched…
Registrations in the UK new car market rose 10.8% to 2.26 million units in 2013, the highest point for six years. But let’s not get too carried away: while last year’s figures may be exceptional, they…
Something strange, or perhaps rather unexpected, has occurred over the past few years: the media and politicians alike have been highlighting the strength of British manufacturing. Stranger yet, perhaps…
George Osborne promised Britain a “march of the makers” – but as yet, there is little sign that a resurgence of manufacturing is helping the economy to rebalance. It would be naïve to assume that manufacturing…
It’s encouraging to see the UK government is finally taking China seriously as a business partner, with David Cameron this week following the parade of ministers who have made the trek to Beijing. There…
The Conservative Party’s 2010 general election manifesto could not have been clearer: “A sustainable recovery must be driven by growth in exports”. As George Osborne specified, the target was “net exports…
Matthias Finger, EPFL – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
Royal Mail has been privatised. Even after Margaret Thatcher’s frenzy in the 1980s, it was one of the last UK public enterprises left; now, the coalition government has sold 52% of Royal Mail. Whereas…
In the national debate about the pros and cons of immigration, the impact on the UK’s tax and welfare system and overall public finances is perhaps the single most important economic issue. We have recently…
John Van Reenen, London School of Economics and Political Science
The proportion of UK-quoted shares owned by overseas investors passed the 50% mark for the first time last week. Predictably there was much wringing of hands about the decline of British business and short-termism…
The future competitiveness of the British economy is founded on the country’s engineers. Sir James Dyson, one of the UK’s most important entrepreneurial designers, regularly bemoans the shortage of skilled…