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This month’s Chart of the Month shows the real (inflation-adjusted) monthly value of UK fish and shellfish exports, bound for EU destinations. It reflects the short-term and potential long-term impacts of Brexit on UK businesses. Over the last twenty years, fish exports to the EU have remained relatively stable. The spike in August 2003 is unexplained, although it may have been caused by an unexpected … Continue reading Chart of the Month – September 2021
August’s Chart of the Month shows the proportion of English students in state-funded and independent schools who achieved A*-As, from 2014 to 2021. It highlights the pandemic’s impacts on education in the UK. In March 2020, the government cancelled public exams. Students instead received a centre assessed grade, based on what they most likely would have achieved. Grade inflation would be mitigated by statistical methodologies … Continue reading Chart of the Month – August 2021
The Keynes Society was delighted to virtually host Professor Sir Timothy Besley, a world-renowned economist in the field of development economics and development policy foundations. Professor Sir Besley is a professor of development economics at the London School of Economics and a fellow of All Souls College Oxford, having served on the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England and as President of the … Continue reading Sir Tim Besley: “State Capacity and Economic Development”
Why regular and excessive government spending can contribute to low productivity, sluggish growth and asset price inflation. Continue reading The Great Deficit Robbery
This Chart of the Month shows the price of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The EU ETS aims to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions within the EU. It is a market-based intervention. Greenhouse gases have made catastrophic weather events much more likely. This summer, we saw devastating floods across Europe, which killed over 300 people. In the US, wildfires torched almost 1.4 million hectares … Continue reading Chart of the Month – July 2021
June’s Chart of the Month shows the daily value of takeaway sales in the USA over the last five years. The onset of COVID-19 last year cleared the chatter of diners from restaurants, replacing them instead with the frenetic hum of mopeds delivering meals. Sales of takeaway meals have ballooned, up 120% since the start of last year and – despite the gradual reopening – … Continue reading Chart of the Month – June 2021
Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. – Warren Buffett Buffett uses this mantra every day, along with his two other ground rules for running his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway: Never lose money. Never forget rule number 1. So why does the 90-year-old legendary investor hold these core mantras? One possible answer can be found by considering the history of … Continue reading Forever blowing bubbles
Since 1896, when global warming was first publicly shown to be a consequence of burning fossil fuels, humanity has wrestled with the conundrum of how best to respond to this looming threat. Against the background of politicisation associated with climate change, economists have argued over the benefits and detriments of introducing a carbon tax: a way of taxing companies which emit greenhouse gases so as … Continue reading Should a form of Carbon Pricing be introduced in the US?
Cees Armstrong and I had the pleasure of interviewing Professor Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley Professor at Harvard Law School. Professor Sunstein is the best-selling author of many books, including the critically acclaimed Nudge, as well as the most cited law scholar of all time. He now works with the US government. Continue reading An interview with Professor Cass Sunstein: Nudges, economic systems, and freedom
The phrase “time of crisis and shortage” is certainly applicable to the coronavirus pandemic; it refers to a period of difficulty where specific items cannot be obtained in sufficient amounts due to shortages in quantity supplied. This may encourage societal inequalities. For example, in order to prevent a future lack of essential goods, higher income earners are better placed to “hoard” such goods, as the … Continue reading Price Controls on Essentials During the Pandemic
