Search

Abstract: Plastic bag litter generates serious environmental concerns and poses a risk to wildlife. As this does not seem to be a problem which can be resolved by the private sector alone, or by ‘Coasean’ negotiation, legislation is proposed, particularly focusing on ‘one‐use’ bags. This article surveys legislation worldwide, while concentrating on lessons from the United States and the United Kingdom. The issues are more complex than is often assumed. While environmentalists argue for restriction and ultimate elimination of one‐use bags, manufacturers, especially those that have reformulated the composition of their bags, see legislation as an overreaction to a problem that is already being addressed within the industry. They cite evidence that, when used within a comprehensive recycling programme, plastic bags are not only cost‐effective but a sound use of our limited resources. Bans or restrictions can have knock‐on effects which can create new problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent paper Bank of England paper cast doubt on the 'textbook' model of the money multiplier. However, this criticism is inconsistent and misleading. It understates the importance of the central bank's control over the monetary base, and how this influences the money supply. The confusion suggests that it would be more fruitful to conduct analysis using the currency-deposit ratio and reserve-deposit ratio rather than the money multiplier, and evidence from 1998-2013 is provided. This article explains how these ratios depend on the monetary regime, and the distinction between inside and outside money. Although a modern regime alters the way that money creation occurs, the monetary base still matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there are many studies of prejudice towards disadvantaged minorities, there has been little research into stereotypes of rich people. The author commissioned the first international comparative study to investigate popular attitudes towards rich people. He analyses findings from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and France, and calculates a 'Social Envy Coefficient' for these four countries. Envy appears most pronounced in France, followed by Germany. By contrast, envy is significantly lower in the United States and Great Britain, although there are interesting variations by age. In addition, the study subjects a sample of popular international feature films and articles in German newspapers to detailed media content analysis. This analysis finds that rich individuals are predominantly portrayed as cold‐hearted, profit‐hungry and morally suspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural rate of interest, also known as R*, is a central concept for many monetary economists. Although policymakers and commentators make judgements based on an implicit belief regarding its value, attempts to measure it are quite rare. This article uses productivity data to estimate the natural rate for the UK economy during 1998–2018. It finds that the median real natural rate up to and including 2008:2 was 2.11 per cent and has been 1.9 per cent since then. This supports the view that the natural rate can change over time and has fallen in recent years. Policymakers who use the natural rate as a benchmark should therefore monitor this more closely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses challenges of central banking industry of Great Britain, following the Great Recession. It mentions various policy measures introduced in the aftermath of the recession includes forward guidance, quantitative easing (QE), and negative interest rates. It also mentions impact of higher interest rates be on economic activity.

The article discusses central banking industry of Great Britain, following the Great Recession. It mentions various factors driving the downward trend in the natural real interest rate including substitution effects dominate income effects, and decline in investment while saving increasing in ‘the' real interest rate. it also mentions implications for monetary policy on average inflation rate.

This lacklustre performance belies a history of significant internet entrepreneurs who pioneered UK ecommerce (Archives IT, [3]) and UK internet engineers whose fundamental contributions help make the internet that we know today (Kirstein, [12]). NN regulation is frequently proffered as a notion that all internet data is equal and, as such, flat-rate broadband packages based on internet speed are the most fair and equitable way to offer broadband to consumers, presumably to maximise the data from all possible points of the internet. HOW NN REGULATION HARMED INNOVATORS The largest US internet companies were founded well before NN regulation was framed and had already globalised by the time rules were imposed in 2015. [Extracted from the article]

The article offers the author's insight on various aspects related to gross domestic product (GDP) in Great Britain. Topics discussed include the implication the Brexit referendum which refers to the decision of the country to withdraw from European Union for GDP, the influence of Chinese economy for the economic condition of Great Britain, and the link between real GDP and macroeconomics.

In Great Britain, a basic inter-urban network of motorways was completed in a very short period between the end of 1959 and 1972. We calculate that this substantial investment had the potential to reduce most inter-urban journey times by about one third. In spite of this, a recent OECD study suggested that the investment had no discernible positive impact on the trend rate of economic growth. We attribute this outcome to a serious misalignment of the early investments with the then predominant flows of industrial and commercial traffics and a significant, and probably endogenous, increase in real wages in a road transport industry in which labour productivity was slow to improve. We conclude with a number of policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the article by Gillian Paull in the February 2014 issue of "Economic Affairs" which provides an overview of the early childhood policy in Great Britain since 1990. Topics include the need to improve the inefficient childcare market in the country by undertaking critical analysis of the model, the intervention of the government in the childcare market through subsidies, and the review of funding and regulation concerning childcare.

This article examines how the currently high level of the UK's debt–GDP ratio can be reduced. We consider whether anything can be learned from previous experience over the last 120 years by examining the contributions both to the increase in the debt–GDP ratio and to the reduction of the debt–GDP ratio by various components of the government budget constraint: the primary surplus, growth, inflation, and interest rates and payments. We also examine the effectiveness of policy in influencing these components. We conclude by considering what level of UK debt might be sustainable and whether this is economically and politically achievable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economists generally study financial regulation in a 'market failure' context. Market failures, as defined in undergraduate textbooks, are identified and government action is proposed to remedy those failures. Quite apart from objections to the market‐failure model that can come from many perspectives, this approach ignores the ways in which regulatory institutions can develop within financial markets. Indeed, such institutions were the norm in the UK until the mid‐1980s, and they still exist today. This article proposes that economists should take this observed reality into account. When considering the appropriateness of government intervention, they should first study the relative advantages and disadvantages of private and government regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Competition and Markets Authority in 2016 calculated a detriment of £1.4 billion–2 billion in Great Britain's retail energy market, attributed to weak customer response. The government in 2019 imposed a tariff cap until competition is effective. I argue that the cap was a mistake: there was no such detriment and there are valid reasons for customers not changing supplier. The market was not previously uncompetitive and inefficient as suggested. The cap has rendered the sector loss‐making and led to supplier exit. The assessments of effective competition by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets have been arbitrary and implausible. Some alternative ways ahead are noted, but latest government policy invokes behavioural economics to propose even greater intervention. A postscript discusses dramatic recent developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the claim that economic policymakers in the post‐COVID UK should learn the lessons of the 1940s. Post‐1945 policies relating to delivering full employment, levelling up, upgrading social security, dealing with the public debt legacy, and addressing the productivity puzzle are considered. The article finds many reasons to criticise the policies of the 1940s. Although, superficially, outcomes look good, a closer examination reveals significant failings notably concerning design of the welfare state and supply‐side policy for growth. The 1940s do not provide a good way to address the productivity slowdown or twenty‐first‐century social insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I examine the costs and benefits of the UK lockdown.[1] My starting point for this commentary was a controversial article by the UK educationalist and journalist Toby Young, published at the end of March 2020. However, the value of a QALY used by NICE, and others, is at least based on a larger UK survey of 3,395 interviewees, albeit taken in 1993.[6] In summary, the figures currently used to value the saving of a life in the UK are probably on the low side. It may also make more sense to focus on the UK Treasury's estimate of £60,000 for the value of a QALY rather than NICE's figure of up to £30,000 used by Toby Young and others. 3.2 Costs of the lockdown The other side of the ledger is the costs of the lockdown which, crucially, are likely to increase the longer that the lockdown remains in place. [Extracted from the article]

The article offers information on the housing market in the Great Britain. Topics discussed include information on the policies to increase the number of homes built and to spread home ownership in Great Britain; discussions on the influence of house prices on credit and money; and the information on the policies for the development of the green belt and the urbanization in the Great Britain.

The article discusses the scenario in Great Britain where downfall in labour productivity hampered economic development, which it depicts has happened due to developments in the cost of capital. Topics discussed include implications of the rising cost of capital, historical analysis of the matter with regard to the economy of Great Britain and policy implications.

We examine the incentive effects of risk-sharing between student and university in the English higher education system. The 'graduate premium' has been widely reported and has been used to justify rising higher education participation and increased individual or governmental expenditure. But this premium is simply the mean of a wide distribution, varying, inter alia, by subject, institution, year of graduation and individual. We assume that universities exist in a state of monopolistic competition and are subject to a budget constraint. Using US college data we find evidence suggesting that a funding model which incorporates risk-sharing improves the efficiency of educational delivery while maintaining subject diversity and access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on the article "Is the Television Licence Fee Fit for Purpose in the Digital Era?" by Helen Weeds about the funding and market failure of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) and public service broadcasting (PSB). The author argues against the description of Weeds that the PCB market in the region and BBC highlights market failure.

This article explores the role of regulation as a supporting institution for an energy market. Two aspects are examined: first, the role of regulation in promoting a competitive market for the retail supply of energy, and second, the role of regulation in providing access to the transmission and distribution networks, assumed to be monopolies, that provide services for the retail suppliers. UK regulation promoted retail energy competition until 2008, but in that year changed direction, and since then has been restricting retail competition. In contrast, UK regulation since 2008 has encouraged more customer engagement in the network part of the energy sector. This offers the prospect, at least, of the emergence of a form of competition and choice in the process of setting price controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is regulated by the state in most countries. The United Kingdom had a period, around the turn of the present century, when traditional regulation was reduced and the energy sector was exposed to market forces, but there has since been reversion to the regulatory norm. The recent history of energy policy, especially as it concerns electricity generation, is examined and the stated reasons for having such a policy are discussed: for example, enhancing security of supply, avoiding the effects of fossil fuel price increases and combating future climate change and its effects. These reasons are found to lack substance and a case is made for moving away from centralised action, returning to a much more competitive market with less government intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses two aspects of the regulatory conduct of Ofsted in protecting children from abuse by strangers. The first concerns the problems associated with child protection and safeguarding in the context of facilitating multicultural norms whereby certain social behaviours which would be unacceptable in one culture can be tolerated or condoned in another. The second aspect arises because, following Ofsted's failure to protect thousands of children from child abuse in many UK cities, children's social services' departments may have adopted strategic behaviour which may protect them rather than the children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the impact of the financial crisis to the economy of high-income countries particularly Great Britain and its five tranformative events. Among the transformative events of the financial crisis include economic transformation, fiscal consequences, and monetary transformation.

The article focuses on the ways Great Britain managed to recover economically through its austerity policy. It mentions the condtion when the coalition of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives took over the British government when there is a need for the country's finances to be under control. It presents a comparison on the way Margaret Thatcher and George Osborne govern the country as its chancellor.

The author presents a reply to author Keith Hartley's article which was in response to his original article titled "Why Two Per Cent on Defence Is Too Much" regarding the defence spending plan of Great Britain's government, where it plans to spend two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) for the purpose. Topics discussed include Great Britain's military operations, its defence policy and outcome assessment of Great Britain's military actions.

The article discusses on the possibility that the move of the British government to chilldcare intervention be justified. It cites the article of Gillian Paull published in the February 2014 issue on the evolution of early childhood policy in the country since the late 1990s and the public support that it gained. It discusses the early education and care policy of the country that reflects a de facto recognition of early childhood education as a public good in its economic terms.