Tag: Economy
Politicians cannot be trusted to set the fiscal rules
On the last of these comments on the UK fiscal framework John considers the impact and role of borrowing limits
Accounting rules for public duty and private failure
What are the similarities, and the differences, between the uses and needs of accounting in the public and private sectors?
Scotland’s sense of injustice blights its future
John describes the eonomic agenda for Scotland following the SNP's latest victory, in the light of the continuing legacy of an apocryphal account of Scottish history.
Brown’s rules are a flawed basis for policy
The Treasury's fiscal principles - the golden rule and the sustainable investment rule - have failed for reasons similar to those that explain the failure of targets in other areas of the public sector.
Forget the meltdown, worry about goo and asteroids
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of our successful escape from extinction by the Tunguska meteorite, John examines the economics of the end of the world.
Rhetoric will never feed the world’s hungry
We make the poor better off not by holding back technical and economic progress, but by accelerating it.
Seeing is believing when it comes to inflation
Perceptions of inflation are formed, not by the ONS, but by the most salient prices.
An innumerate mistake haunting the government
Do not tinker with the tax system for short-term political advantage. Tax is always more complicated than you think and the results come back to haunt you.
More regulation will not prevent next crisis
Regulation in a market economy is targeted at specific market failures and should not be a charter for the general scrutiny of business strategies of private business.
Just think, the fees you could charge Buffett
Warren Buffett's emergence as the world's richest man illustrates the power of compound interest. Warren neither pays nor makes management charges. The effect is larger than you would believe possible.
