Should the Bank of England consider an emergency interest rate cut in response Covid-19? Should the Bank of England consider an emergency interest rate cut in response Covid-19? Vicky Pryce, former joint head of the Government Economic Service and author of It’s the Economy, Stupid, says YES. This is an emergency situation and emergency measures are needed. The Budget needs to focus on providing short-term help, but a joint [...]
DEBATE: Is Bill Dudley right to argue that central bankers should fight back against politicians like Trump? Is Bill Dudley right to argue that central bankers should fight back against politicians like Trump? Vicky Pryce, former joint head of the Government Economic Service, a board-member of CEB,R and co-author of It’s the Economy, Stupid, says YES. At first reading, former Federal Reserve policymaker Bill Dudley seems to be making a political statement. [...]
DEBATE: Are smart speakers really a better measure of inflation for the ONS than envelopes? Are smart speakers really a better measure of inflation for the ONS than envelopes? Vicky Pryce, former joint head of the Government Economic Service and author of It’s the Economy, Stupid, says YES. It makes sense for the ONS to rethink its inflation basket. Fewer people write letters now, although parcels have increased with online [...]
DEBATE: Should we welcome proposals for the so-called Tulip Tower in the City? January 23, 2019 Should we welcome proposals for the so-called Tulip Tower in the City? David Buik, market commentator at Core Spreads, says YES. Sir Norman Foster’s first commercial building in the UK was the Sainsbury Centre of Visual Arts in Norwich, completed in 1974. Now that same architect has designed the Tulip Tower, to be erected and built (subject [...]
As the EU sends an envoy to Greece to salvage the debt deal, would the Eurozone survive Grexit? February 16, 2017 Carsten Hesse, emerging European equity strategist at Berenberg, says Yes. Although tensions are flaring up again, it remains highly unlikely that Greece will leave the Eurozone. It has already done 80-90 per cent of the required fiscal repair and structural reforms and two-thirds of Greeks want to keep the euro. The current noise sounds like [...]
As the Bank of England hikes its growth forecasts, is it time for economists to admit they were wrong about Brexit? February 3, 2017 Ruth Lea, economic adviser to the Arbuthnot Banking Group, says Yes. The Bank of England was far too pessimistic in August when it slashed 2017’s forecast growth rate to 0.8 per cent and its accompanying monetary package was premature, to say the least. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it has since upgraded this year’s growth prospects twice: to [...]
Was Mark Carney right to absolve monetary policy of the blame for popular disillusionment with capitalism? December 7, 2016 Vicky Pryce, board member of CEBR, a former government economic adviser and co-author of It’s the Economy Stupid, Economics for Voters, says Yes. The impact of globalisation has on the whole been positive. It has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, created vast new middle classes and extended all our horizons. The consumer has [...]
Have you been pleasantly surprised by Donald Trump’s performance since the election? November 14, 2016 Tim Worstall, senior fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Pleasantly surprised is to put it mildly. The sight of special snowflake heads exploding in outrage all around has been hugely enjoyable. According to them, threats to deport 3m illegal immigrants seem to be different from the 3m deported under the Obama administration. The [...]
As a new report finds household debt reaching £1.5 trillion, is this a disaster waiting to happen? November 7, 2016 Baroness Altmann, former minister of state for pensions, says Yes. This news makes for disturbing reading. Casting our minds back a few years to the events leading up to the 2008 crash invokes an apprehensive sense of deja vu. Was it not excessive borrowing that led to the crisis we are still struggling to overcome? [...]
Following better than expected third quarter GDP figures, have Project Fear’s warnings been disproved? October 27, 2016 David Blake, a professor at Cass Business School, City University London, says Yes. The Treasury’s pre-Brexit scaremongering has been proven so wrong, but it sticks to its original, completely implausible assumptions. Its latest position is that those forecasts were made based on the assumption that Article 50 would be triggered immediately, and that no policy response [...]
