Generation Rent – should this be a concern?
According to the latest Homelet Rental Index, London rents are unsurprisingly the highest on average at £1543, and the average for the rest of the UK at £764. For most 16-24 year olds, this can be up to 81% of their average gross income once state housing benefit has been ...
The Refugee Crisis - the economic perspective
Much has been made of the debate whether to take in more Syrian refugees into the UK in the aftermath of David Cameron’s hesitancy to take in children from European camps. In this debate, however, a key argument has been lost. There has been too much focus on the idea ...
The Treasury’s Brexit claims on housing are exaggerated and an unnecessary distraction
Among a series of claims in the Treasury’s short-term Brexit analysis were some quite startling projections about the potential impact on UK house prices. Relative to a vote to remain in the EU, the Treasury’s Brexit scenario estimates that UK house prices will be between 10 to 18% lower by ...
Europe or Bust? My recollections of the 1975 referendum
In 1975 I was involved in a non-political campaign to underline the “exciting advantages of the Britain’s continuing EEC membership”. People for Europe appealed to those “unlikely to be inspired or impressed by politicians”. “It will involve all kinds of other people – many of them famous, lots of them ...
Will endorsing Trump undo Paul Ryan's vision for the GOP?
The long road to November continues and GOP party leaders are beginning to come to terms with Trump as the presumptive nominee. Unity talks have been underway for a possible reconciliation between Trump and Paul Ryan, yet an endorsement has not been forthcoming.But endorsing, rather than rejecting Trump may be ...If councillors reject the fracking application in Yorkshire, the Government must intervene
Third Energy’s shale gas exploratory drilling application will be considered by North Yorkshire councillors today. To date, there has been a lack of exploratory drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the UK, meaning that we do not currently have a true assessment of the UK’s shale gas potential. This makes today’s ...
European climate change strategy: how to make simple things complicated
Addressing climate change, and thus reducing drastically greenhouse gas emissions, will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. The European Union is leading the way by committing to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 (from 1990 levels). To reach this community-wide goal, each member state ...Trump: a reality check for American Conservatism
As the outcome of the GOP nominee race remains uncertain with growing speculation of a brokered convention, American conservatism is at a crossroads. In much the same way that Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader was a repudiation of the Blairite-Brownite years, a Trump victory will be a reality check ...Even Greenpeace admits it: Biomass power stations are expensive and useless in tackling climate change
Wallonia’s regional government has just announced its intention to build a 200MW biomass power station. This facility is set to use wood-pellets imported from the United States to provide up to 7.5% of Wallonia’s total electricity consumption.Biomass power stations are not economically viable under current energy market conditions. As a ...
The UK’s Muted Productivity: The Retail Sector
“Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything”, (Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate Economist).Britain is currently facing declining productivity – 20 percentage points below the average of the remaining six members of the G7 group of industrial nations. Productivity is the value each worker adds in every ...The government needs to scrap the ill-advised international aid target
The Department for International Development (Dfid) has just published figures showing the UK’s international aid budget continues to grow exponentially. While some unprotected government departments face significant spending cuts, the international aid budget grew by over £500 million in 2015, taking the collective budget to £12.2 billion. There is particular ...
The Role of P2P lending in the UK economy
The rise of financial technology continues to show the United Kingdom’s role as an international centre for finance. Peer to Peer (P2P) lending has seen explosive growth in size and usage in the past few years, leading to speculation that it could be a threat to more traditional forms of ...How could Brexit help engagement with emerging economies?
The share of UK exports destined for the EU fell 10 percentage points between 1999 – 2014. Declining terms of trade with the EU has continued to deteriorate the UK’s overall trade balance, leaving Britain with the 2nd largest trade deficit in the world reaching £61.6 billion in 2014 compared ...
A British policy for countering Russia: A new Jackson-Vanik amendment
During the annexation of Crimea, the invasion of eastern Ukraine and the Syrian campaign, Britain was less involved in Ukraine than its European counterparts despite being a member of the UN Security Council. While Merkel and Hollande negotiated the Minsk accords with Ukraine and Russia, the British government originally confined ...Budget 2016: Chancellor still has get out of jail free cards
This article is taken from the CPS Economic Bulletin. To receive the bulletin to your inbox before it is published online, subscribe here.The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised its borrowing forecasts upwards for the five year spending review period (2016/17 – 2020/21) by £56.3 billion since the Autumn Statement. The ...