Tag: Regulation
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
The visible hand of the Treasury
The effort to define the 'third way' for the centre left after socialism continues with Gordon Brown's extended essay on economic philosophy to the Social Market Foundation. His analysis has many attractions - and many unresolved problems.
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.
A balance between care and discipline
Balancing the needs of public sector companies with the needs of society is a delicate matter. It is however, possible to achieve.
A financial disservice
If the government wants people to save more it will have to look beyond first year economics. Full information and homogenous products are no antidote to imperfect human nature
Twenty Years of Privatisation
Twenty years after it all began, the meaning of privatisation is now clearer. Privatised businesses have fared better than nationalised ones but most have not thrived in the private sector. And the plc model does not work for monopoly services.
