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 ...
Tim Knox - 22 May 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.It is a generally accepted fact that in the long run, what matters for prosperity ...
Ryan Bourne - 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% ...
Ryan Bourne - 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 ...
Vuk Vukovic - 25 April 2013 - Economy
This extended blog post was jointly authored by Ryan Bourne and Vuk Vokovic.Reinhart and Rogoff's (RR) highly-cited paper on how high levels of gross government debt (over 90% of GDP) are associated with much slower real GDP growth, which allegedly became the justification for austerity, has been brought under scrutiny ...
Ryan Bourne - 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, ...
Ryan Bourne - 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 ...
Michael Johnson - 29 March 2013 - Economy
Just when you thought it could not get any worse... it has. In 2011, the OBR started to forecast the cashflow shortfall between public service pensions’ contributions and pensions in payment. Six years ago this was an irrelevant £200 million, climbing to £8 billion last year. It has to ...
Ryan Bourne - 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 ...
Ryan Bourne - 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 ...
Ryan Bourne - 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 ...
Deepak Lal - 11 March 2013 - Economy
The Washington Consensus is still the best way to promote sustained growth, says Deepak Lal.Two widely cited recent works by Robert Gordon (“Is US Economic Growth Over? Faltering Innovation Confronts the Six Headwinds”) and Tyler Cowen (The Great Stagnation) suggest that US economic growth is over, since there are few innovations ...
Ryan Bourne - 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 ...
Vuk Vukovic - 26 February 2013 - Economy
Vuk Vukovic, lecturer of Political Economy and Principles of Economics at the Department of Economics, Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM), writes on the message sent by Britain's credit downgrade by ratings agency Moody's. On Friday night the UK was given, for the first time in history, a downgrade of its credit ...
Ryan Bourne - 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 ...
