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The cost of corporate welfare

A decade after the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) and bailouts are once again on the political agenda. Back then, banks all over the world were supplied with [...]

When war meant sacrifice and debt had to be paid back

‘It’s a war,’ said President Trump, when describing the fight against the Coronavirus, labelling himself a ‘war-time President’. Sure enough, with a [...]

What the Coronavirus fight will cost – and if it’s worth it

In health economics, a quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) is a generic measure of the burden of disease, capturing both the quality and the quantity of life [...]

Coronavirus could prick the corporate debt bubble

Coronavirus has left economies across the world in suspended animation as governments attempt to contain the spread of the virus by pursuing draconian [...]

Why the case for a smaller state may fall victim to Corona virus

The UK is in lockdown. In spite of his initial instinct to try to preserve civil liberties, Boris Johnson surrendered to the pressure and turned his country [...]

Boeing, bailouts and the future of the free market

This week, US President Donald Trump seemingly caved in to pressure from failing airplane manufacturer Boeing Inc. and others, who have been lobbying for [...]

The courts tell Boris that virtue signalling has consequences

Last week, in a landmark British legal case brought by environmental charities, Friends of the Earth and Plan B Earth, a judge ruled that the planned [...]

A decade without a recession: were the doomsayers wrong?

On 1st July 2019 the US economic expansion, which started in the wake of the global financial crisis in June 2009, entered its 121st month and thereby [...]

Preventing a pandemic – without the state

It was a bright Sunday morning in March 2014 when the first case of Ebola was diagnosed in Harbel, a town of some 80,000 people in the West African country of [...]

Don’t fight inequality, it is both desirable and inevitable

Recently the actor Simon Pegg, star of Shaun of the Dead, was one of 120 wealthy signatories from around the world to a letter calling for higher taxes on the [...]