Nobody wins when there are too few taxis
Most bad economic policies can be abandoned, but the harmful effects of restrictive licensing systems are usually irreversible. By illustrating the flaws of taxi regulation, John explains why governments and licensing authorities should think twice before being caught in a transitional gains trap.
Why a privatised railway drew bad reviews
David Hare’s play on rail privatisation, The Permanent Way, offers drama along classical Shakespearean lines – what is foredoomed to fail, fails. However, as an intriguing conversation reveals, Hare seems to have missed a key point.
Give state funding to students not their colleges
Europe once took 75 per cent of Nobel prizes; today the US does. It is less widely appreciated that this is the triumph of autonomous institutions over government-controlled ones.
The end of the pact could turn out to be a blessing
The end of the stability and growth pact will be a victory rather than a defeat if it leads to new ways of monitoring and controlling fiscal policy. John explains the need for governments to delegate responsibility for setting taxes.
Electricity failures should come as no shock
Are the increasingly frequent failures in electricity supply the result of privatisation and deregulation?
Why those who seek popularity lose their authority
The market truly values advisers it can trust; subsequently the effort to impress may have the opposite results.
Tax is bad enough without needless complexity
Sir Christopher Gent and a precinct of policemen provide some insights to our tax system.
Bedpans should be heard no more in Whitehall
A discussion regarding foundation hospitals, in a pluralist versus centralist context, reveals some difficult choices.
The real culprits in Europe’s pensions crisis
The problem of the European pension gap cannot be tackled by the kind of financial engineering proposed by the European Financial Services Round Table. This is not the moment in history to argue that private pension funding is necessarily superior to state provision.
Take the politics out of fiscal policy
Even though there is a case for leaving the responsibility of fiscal policy to the government, there is an even greater need for achieving the discipline and the same kind of objective assessment that has worked so well for monetary policy