Blogs by Ryan Bourne

22 May 2013 - Economy

The IMF report proved a damp squib for the ‘more, more, more’ crowd who think the Chancellor should attempt to spend and borrow his way back to sustainable growth. Whilst the Fund did advocate re-jigging of spending (bringing forward some capital spending), it largely supported the need for fiscal consolidation ...

21 May 2013 - Economy

This blog might seem a bit pedantic. But at a time where financial and economic literacy has never been so important, I think it is necessary.So, remember how last year we pointed out that there was huge confusion between debt and deficit? We carried out polling which showed just 10% ...

14 May 2013 - Economy

HSBC’s Stephen King is rare for an economist. Not only is he able to write well (in a style that most graduates would be able to understand), but he is also an incredibly nice man. His book, ‘When the Money Runs Out’, due to be published this Saturday, is a ...

14 May 2013 - Politics

Over the past few years, Conservative MP Douglas Carswell has continually predicted a revolution in the way politics is undertaken given the rise of the internet. In a recent Spectator blog, he wrote: "Politics in the West, I speculate in my book on iDemocracy published last year, is going to ...

16 April 2013 - Economy

This article is an excerpt from our Growth Bulletin, authored by Ryan Bourne and Tim Knox. To read the full article, click here. To sign up for our mailings, use the form on the left of our newsletter page.With the sad death of Lady Thatcher, there has been much reflection on her personality, ...

02 April 2013 - Economy

If you want an insight into the psyche of many on the British left, then look no further than an article published in the last 24 hours.Exhibit A is Lynsey Hanley’s piece for the Guardian website.  In the blog she attacks the Coalition’s policy of raising the personal allowance for ...

27 March 2013 - Economy

Matthew Hancock MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for further education, skills and lifelong learning, this morning gave a speech to the Resolution Foundation on low pay.  Entitled, ‘A Conservative Agenda for Tackling Low Pay’, the speech was largely based around the idea that there were three mechanisms at the Government’s ...

26 March 2013 - Economy

“So a 17 year old has made a fortune and has now become a member of the ‘super rich’, the top 1%, and the plutocrats who are getting richer whilst we’re all getting poorer. It’s ludicrous the amount of money he has been able to earn, far beyond what I ...

20 March 2013 - Economy

I'm currently reading through the Budget, and (as always) there's a lot to digest. As our initial comment reactions made clear, the most worrying thing about the announcements today were the continued high borrowing figures and downward revisions to growth. Essentially, the Coalition are still relying on strong medium growth ...

01 March 2013 - Economy

Tim Montgomerie had an interesting post over at Conservative Home yesterday, suggesting that there are three broad strands of Tory demands from the Chancellor ahead of the 2013 Budget – all entailing tax cuts.The first are what he calls the competitiveness caucus, who want cuts to business taxation alongside various ...

26 February 2013 - Economy

Janan Ganesh's FT column is always a must read for those who want an insight into the thoughts of George Osborne's Treasury team, and today's column is no different. It rightly explains that the electorate is largely resigned to the prospect of slow growth over the next few years, and ...

18 February 2013 - Economy

Given media reports over the weekend that the Government is considering how to re-privatise RBS, Head of Economic Research Ryan Bourne outlines why the proposal put forward by the CPS last year is still the least bad way for the UK Government to put the shares back into the private ...

06 February 2013 - Economy

This article is an excerpt from our Growth Bulletin, authored by Ryan Bourne and Tim Knox. To read the full article, click here. To sign up for our mailings, use the form on the left of our newsletter page.As ever, last week’s preliminary GDP figures have formed a major part of the political ...

03 February 2013 - Economy

There’s a term in economics called ‘a public good’. The definition is usually if something is non- rivalrous and non-excludable, meaning that nobody can be effectively excluded from using it and one person’s use does not negate the ability of others to use it. These types of goods tend to ...

23 January 2013 - Economy

Everyone’s talking about the speech. David Cameron’s speech, that is. But last night the Governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King also made one in Northern Ireland – his final regional speech as Governor of the Bank.  And it was an interesting, if confusing, speech which really did ...