The immigration debate has been poisoned – and the facts wilfully ignored November 5, 2014 This weekend, people across Europe will commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. They will celebrate the end of communism in Europe, the liberation of millions from totalitarianism, and the opening up of a continent to free movement between nations. In Britain, however, the politics of migration has become grubbier. Everybody [...]
As QE ends in the US, has it changed the world for the better? October 29, 2014 Sam Bowman, research director at the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Many people, including me, expected QE to cause uncontrollable inflation and end in disaster. How wrong we were. The US and the UK, which did QE, are growing healthily. The Eurozone, which didn’t, is in ruins. QE helps to keep nominal spending steady during [...]
How an independent Scotland can keep the pound – and have more stable banks August 20, 2014 When Scottish voters go to the polls in their independence referendum next month, they may ultimately make their decision on the basis of a single question: if we voted Yes, what currency would we use? The question has massive implications for Scotland’s economy, and since the “Plan A” of a formal currency union between Scotland [...]
As Eurozone growth flatlines, is the bloc facing a lost decade? August 14, 2014 Sam Bowman, research director at the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. A quarter of Spanish workers are unemployed. Youth unemployment in Greece is above 50 per cent. All Italian growth in the last 15 years has been wiped out. And Germany’s economy, previously healthy, shrunk in the second quarter. Across the Eurozone, unemployment is above [...]