Entries by jamesz

QOTD: Plato

December 18, 2013 /1 Comment/in , /by

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. Economists like to think they’re above politics and deal only with positive questions. Is that really much of a boast?

Politicians vs policy analysts

December 9, 2013 in /by

Jonathan Portes has an interesting post on the Department of Work and Pensions’ analysis of Mandatory Work Activity. Jonathan does a great job summarising the research and it’s fantastic to see good evaluation coming out of the Department. The political headline of the post is less positive: “DWP analysis shows mandatory work activity is largely […]

Autumn Statement 2013

December 7, 2013 /3 Comments/in , /by

The Chancellor gave his mid-year summary of the UK’s position to the House yesterday. He said Mr Speaker, Britain’s economic plan is working. For those of you unfamiliar with the UK economy, here are some headline charts: UK macroeconomic situation

A cash payment is not a ‘nudge’

November 18, 2013 /5 Comments/in /by

There’s controversy in the UK over trials of a £200 payment to mothers for breastfeeding their children. Bizarrely, the payment is being described as a ‘nudge’ when it is nothing of the sort. A nudge is a change in the framing of a choice that doesn’t change the choice itself. Interventions that make one option […]

Does the BoE’s view on uncertainty make sense?

November 6, 2013 /11 Comments/in , /by

Uncertainty is an unavoidable element of policy decisions. In the words of the great Donald Rumsfeld, we must confront the unknown unknowns. In this appearance the BoE’s chief economist, Spencer Dale, discusses his approach to dealing with uncertainty in the context of forward guidance. Essentially, he says that the Bank doesn’t know how big the […]

The UK: agglomerating since forever

November 5, 2013 in , /by

Agglomeration externalities are the hot thing in policy these days. For believers they’re one of the things that economists have missed by excluding geography in the past. To sceptics they’re just another excuse for the Government to justify picking winners and organising the country. I recently came across a couple of VoxEU articles that might […]