Low pay· Labour market· Pay Is the minimum wage pushing people into self-employment? 29 July 2019 by Nye Cominetti Two big changes in the labour market over the past two decades have been the rise in self-employment and the introduction and uprating of the minimum wage. Is there a connection between these trends? Legally, of course, there is no connection – the minimum wage applies to employees only. But economically, we would expect one. … Continued READ MORE
Weekend reading for the new Cabinet Top of the Charts 26 July 2019 Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts email here Afternoon all, It’s been a brutal week in Britain – whether you’re trying to commute in near 40 degree heat, or trying to keep your job at the Cabinet table. But I’ve got zero sympathy for the whinging – you want to try spending … Continued READ MORE
Leading Britain through Brexit: Five lessons for Boris Johnson 24 July 2019 by Torsten Bell When the history books of our era are written they will say that Britain had a huge financial crisis, then it left the EU. In those books Boris Johnson’s legacy as Prime Minister will be Brexit – and the politics and economics of Brexit are hard. Hard substantively, because they involve unravelling 40 years of … Continued READ MORE
Blowing the Budget and how to train your Dictator Top of the Charts 19 July 2019 Sign up for our weekly Top of the Charts email here Afternoon all, I’m afraid a rather serious mood is dominating at RF towers today. It’s Theresa May’s last weekend as Prime Minister. It’s (probably) Boris Johnson’s last weekend for a while without that responsibility sitting on his shoulders. She should, and I’m sure will be, sad … Continued READ MORE
Fiscal policy· Public spending· Economy and public finances· Macroeconomic policy Another summer blockbuster (on fiscal risks) from the OBR 18 July 2019 by Richard Hughes Today the OBR published its second Fiscal Risks Report, a comprehensive assessment of all the things that could go wrong with the UK’s public finances over the next 50 years. And it is a summer blockbuster – topping out at 293 pages in total. Fiscal risk analysis is the new cutting edge in fiscal policymaking, … Continued READ MORE
Navigating the messy world of modern politics Top of the Charts 12 July 2019 Afternoon all, This week the plucky Kiwis beat a nation, India, with a population 280 TIMES AS LARGE in a classic David overcomes Goliath match to reach Sunday’s Cricket World Cup final. But obviously we’ve had quite enough of the little guy standing up to the real power – partly because England are clear favourites … Continued READ MORE
Rock star Eurocrats, takeover attacks and tax spats Top of the Charts 5 July 2019 Afternoon all, Christine Lagarde is a very talented woman, but she’s also a very lucky one. Her current role running the IMF came up rather err…unexpectedly and she now gets to head to Frankfurt to take over as the new head of the European Central Bank, despite saying many times that she had no interest in … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Pay· Intergenerational Centre It’s getting better all the time? 5 July 2019 by Stephen Clarke In 1957 the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan told the country that it had “never had it so good”. Since then more than six decades have elapsed, and each successive generation has debated whether this applies to them. Such debates continue to rage. Some commentators have argued that today’s young people are more fortunate than previous … Continued READ MORE
Intergenerational Centre War and peace – David Willetts reviews two of the latest books on Intergenerational equity for the Financial Times 3 July 2019 by David Willetts Class used to predict how people would vote in Britain and elsewhere — in 1974 if you were a member of the working class you were three times more likely to vote Labour than Conservative. Now the distribution of votes by class in the UK is almost even between Labour and Conservative: the new divide … Continued READ MORE
Wealth & assets· Housing Who owns Britain’s £13tn wealth? 2 July 2019 by George Bangham Britain is in the middle of a decades-long wealth boom. Total wealth now stands at a record £12.8tn, or almost 13 million millions. But where you live, and when you were born plays a big part in how much of that wealth you are likely to own. In the 1960s and 1970s, Britain’s collective wealth … Continued READ MORE