By: Paul Ormerod

Paul Ormerod is an economist at Volterra Partners LLP, author and an Honorary Professor at the Alliance Business School at the University of Manchester

All 212 Articles

Investment can boost growth – if it comes with technological progress

November 6, 2024

Economic theory does regard capital investment as a contributor to economic growth, but there is another essential factor: technical progress, says Paul Ormerod The need to boost the UK’s rate of economic growth was a central theme of the first budget delivered by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor. Reeves emphasised the importance of increasing the amount [...]
How will the bond markets react to the Budget?

October 30, 2024

For all the government’s promises of stability and hoped-for reductions in interest rates, UK yields on government bonds are now, in fact, very similar to the levels to which they rose under the ill-fated Truss government, says Paul Ormerod There has been a huge amount of speculation about the Budget. Later today we will of [...]
Borrowing to invest is all very well but what about value for money?

October 23, 2024

The precise contents of the budget are still secret. But a widely trailed theme is that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, wants to create as much scope as possible for extra public sector investment. She appears to be willing to rewrite the existing fiscal rules in order to accommodate the increase. In principle of course there [...]
Will carbon capture work? Nobody knows – and that’s the problem

October 16, 2024

UK’s clumsy carbon capture punt is result of top down intervention – but there’s a better way, writes Paul Ormerod The government confirmed this month the funding for the UK’s first carbon capture sites. The technology, it is claimed, captures CO2 emissions before they reach the atmosphere and stores them away safely. Based on Merseyside [...]
The threat of higher taxes is already harming growth

October 9, 2024

An important reason why there was zero growth in June and July is that households are saving bigger proportions of their incomes, says Paul Ormerod The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had made no secret of her desire to make economic growth her top policy objective. She reinforced the message this week in an interview with the [...]
The main task of the next Tory leader is to repaint the party’s image

October 2, 2024

The dominant narrative around a government’s record is more important than the facts, writes Paul Ormerod
A lesson from King Canute for the EV transition: You can’t force hype

September 25, 2024

European politicians need to learn a few lessons about demand, writes Paul Ormerod
Haldane is right – the Chancellor’s doom-mongering is dangerous

September 18, 2024

The stories we tell ourselves matter in economics, writes Paul Ormerod
Is there such a thing as a ‘fair’ price? Definitely, maybe…

September 11, 2024

Oasis tickets have stirred controversy, but the question of how prices are set in a market goes all the way back to Alfred Marshall and Francis Edgeworth, says Paul Ormerod The pricing of tickets for the forthcoming Oasis tour has stirred up a major controversy. This is not just on social media. Lisa Nandy, the [...]
Spending without productivity improvements won’t lead to better public services

September 4, 2024

Restoring the differentials in public and private sector pay to those which prevailed in 2010 without quid pro quo increases in productivity is simply stirring up trouble for the future, says Paul Ormerod The decision by the government to stuff money into the bank accounts of the train drivers and junior doctors has been widely [...]

Donald Tusk says Nato is falling apart

Why Sunderland’s away kit legal row is a warning to all sports

What’s on in London in May

By: Paul Ormerod

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