Incentive plans that corrode integrity
If profit related pay works for CEO's, then why not have growth related pay for the Chancellor? History tells us why this is a bad idea
Merger lectures are best ignored
The biggest universities in the world are clearly not the best. So why do some British universities think that mergers will make them world class?
Mario Monti’s parallel universe
The European Commission was severely rebuked by the Court for its refusal to allow Airtours to acquire First Choice. But the verdict of the marketplace, in which Airtours is in desperate straits while First Choice has gone from strength to strength, confirms the wisdom of the Commission's decision: rarely has an anti-trust agency been so comprehensively vindicated by subsequent events.
Copyright law has a duty to creativity
We are often told that the best way to protect artistic innovation and creativity is to extend copyright. But it is not usually the budding novelist or musician that pushes the argument.
Business can be a Nobel pursuit
The gap between American universities and the rest of the world is widening. The week in which the Nobel Prizes are awarded is an opportune time to ask why.
Reflections on the New Economy
John recalls his thinking during the extraordinary years of the 'new economy'.
Beware authority without legitimacy
Institutions have no power without legitimacy, English exam boards are learning this lesson the hard way
Britain counts the cost of wasted energy
With one short sentence uttered in 1965, Fred Lee, then Britain's minister for power, encapsulated the government's hopes of providing ...
Failure by consensus
Before ITV Digital, there was Taurus, EFTPoS and BSB. Each of these schemes failed because the problems of decision making and responsibility in industry-wide schemes was not tackled successfully.
Travels with an economist
Where do economists go on holiday? Unmoved by glossy travel brochures they turn straight to the concept of purchasing power parity.