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After the Virus: A plan for restoring growth
Major new report by Sajid Javid MP and Centre for Policy Studies sets out a vision for economic recovery after the pandemic. Report stresses vital importance of Bank of England independence but argues that the Government and the Bank should consider a shift in its remit from targeting inflation to nominal GDP, in order to better deliver sustained growth.
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Myths and Magic in Economic Management
The House of Commons Expenditure Committee was conceived under the 1969 Labour Government, and brought to birth under the 1970 Conservative one. It took the place of the long standing Estimates Committee; and its formation represented a compromise between the wishes of those on both sides of the Commons who wanted to have an Economic Policy Committee, and the determination of the Treasury to avert the prospect of politicians cross-examining civil servants about the formulation of economic policy.
Stranded on the Middle Ground? Reflections on Circumstances and Policies
A year has passed since I spoke last here on the same subject: inflation and unemployment. A the time, you may remember, my speech stirred up not only a fair amount of attention, comment and expressions of agreement, but also a hostile reaction from politicians and commentators. That was one year ago. What has happened since has largely confirmed what I then predicted
The Camel’s Back: An international Comparison of Tax Burdens
Britain is an overtaxed country – true or false? Published statistics give a conflicting message. In 1972 total UK taxation, including social security contributions as a proportion of gross national product, came in about halfway down a list of OECD countries. Yet, as Dr Bracewell-Milnes shows in this timely paper, even in that year the UK tax burden on high earners was high, and on savers intolerably high.
The New Acquisitive Society
Those familiar with Dr Zweig’s work will find his new book perhaps one of the most fascinating that he has ever written, and certainly it will contribute enormously to the discussion of where present society finds itself and where it might be going.
Upper Clyde Shipbuilders: A study of government intervention in industry … the way the money goes
Britain is clearly heading for state involvement in industry on a scale never previously contemplated. Added to the Labour Government’s own plans for nationalisation and the interventionist operations of the National Enterprise Board, we now have a procession of famous companies forces by inflation, unwise tax and economic policies, and sometimes by poor management and chaotic industrial relations, into accepting state share holdings and directions on policy in return for the cash needed for survival
The Ancient Mariner and the Old Sailor: Delights and uses of the English Language Peter Vansittart
This is the first of the pilot papers which the Centre for Policy Studies intends to publish. Their purpose is to prepare the path for comprehensive studies on various topics of the day; in this instance, on the teaching of English in schools.
Why Britain Needs A Social Market Economy
Since the war, rising prosperity and increased leisure have enabled the mass of the British people to enjoy their individual freedoms on a scale never previously realised. Bit it is a paradox that, just when personal liberty is beginning to characterise the life-style of a whole generation, that generation has produced so many articulate members who have failed to perceive that their life-style depends crucially on a socio-economic system which they claim to abhor. There is a need to demonstrate to these people that freedom is indivisible, and to explain to them the underlying contradiction between extreme egalitarianism and freedom; the role of prices, profits and competition in creating wealth; and the intimate link between personal liberty and the diffusion of economic power.