The blob is wrong: Competition between schools raises standards the world over August 23, 2016 The A-Level results released last week confirm the dominance of schools in London and the South East. Provisional league tables have only appeared so far for state schools, but these two regions have two-thirds of the top 100. South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, and Wales did not have a single school between them in the top [...]
With monetary policy in the frame at Jackson Hole this week, are negative interest rates a looming disaster? August 23, 2016 Ben Habib, chief executive of First Property Group, says Yes. Since the late 1980s, the principal weapon used against economic setbacks by the central banks of western developed economies has been ever looser monetary policy. This approach initially worked well, serving to support both real economies and asset prices. Those of us who were lucky enough [...]
Economics holds the smoking gun for why e-cigarettes shouldn’t be discouraged August 23, 2016 Smoking and other tobacco use is not a disease, it is a consumption decision. So attempts to understand it through the lens of medicine, rather than that of welfare economics (the science of consumer preferences, choice, and welfare), create confusion, absurd claims, and bad public policy. These errors are particularly harmful in discussions about low risk [...]
The restrictive bonus cap is finally loosening August 23, 2016 It's time for the UK to throw off the EU's restrictive bonus cap. The cap may have been brought in with the best of intentions following the financial crisis – curbing excessive rewards for risky trading behaviour – but it has turned out to be increasingly counterproductive. This week, an unintended consequence has emerged that serves [...]
The public sector’s vast bank of unused land is a national disgrace August 22, 2016 So Brexit means that overseas demand for London property will decline, prices will fall and the housing crisis will ease, right? Think again. Whatever the effects of Brexit on London house prices, short or long term, the basic problem persists: the capital faces a chronic shortage of homes. Demand for all but the most expensive [...]
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour should focus on growth above inequality August 22, 2016 It used to go without saying that growth matters. But if former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers now feels the need to take to the pages of the FT to make the “progressive case for economic growth”, it shows just how far other issues, whether inequality or climate change, have come to dominate the thinking [...]
Even Switzerland doesn’t want Britain to adopt the Swiss model post-Brexit August 22, 2016 Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery, but it is doubtful whether anyone in Switzerland is thanking the City and the British Bankers’ Association for coming up with the idea that London should seek a Swiss-style relationship with Europe once Brexit is fully consummated. The reason Swiss banks and finance firms are so [...]
As an EY survey finds financial firms shrugging off Brexit fears, is the City being too sanguine about leaving the EU? August 22, 2016 Professor Richard Portes, academic director at AQR Asset Management Institute, London Business School, says Yes. Of course nobody predicted an immediate fall in output and employment. But those will come. Both vacancies and investment plans are already down. Sterling has fallen a lot, and short positions are up, with the exchange rate set to fall further. [...]
Theresa May’s Olympic praise sheds light on her industrial strategy vision August 22, 2016 Theresa May returns to Downing Street this week after a walking holiday in Switzerland, a reminder to anyone still basking in the sun with a bottle of rosé that autumn is now upon us. Unlike the rest of us mortals who spend the first day back in the office clearing out the inbox, the Prime [...]
Less silver spoons, more silver (and gold) medals: Team GB represents the best of Britain August 22, 2016 After Team GB’s exceptionally successful Olympic Games in London 2012, a report was published stating that over a third of its medal winners were privately educated. The research, published by the Sutton Trust, kicked off a round of that age-old and forever-popular British sport of moaning. Team GB’s success, while celebrated by the vast majority of [...]