John Mills’ new book, The Elephant in the Room (published by Civitas and the John Mills Institute for Prosperity), leads with a dire warning that UK living standards may be lower in 2030 than in 2019, but counters this with the bold claim that the economy could grow sustainably by 3% to 4% a year instead, if … Continue reading Book review: “The Elephant in the Room” by John Mills
Author: julianhjessop
Why a tax on homeworking is a really bad idea…
Researchers at Deutsche Bank (DB) have proposed an additional tax on people working from home ‘to help those who cannot’. This would break just about every principle of good tax design and is one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard. Let me explain... As I understand it, the proposal is for a 5% tax … Continue reading Why a tax on homeworking is a really bad idea…
Lockdowns fail the cost-benefit test
The Spectator has published a SAGE paper outlining a ‘reasonable worst case’ scenario leading to an additional 85,000 Covid deaths in the UK, even with some partial mitigation. It’s hard to know what to make of this figure without a better understanding of what would happen if the government did nothing. (The paper assumed that … Continue reading Lockdowns fail the cost-benefit test
How far will UK unemployment rise?
The planned closure of the original job retention scheme (CJRS) at the end of October has focused attention again on the prospects for unemployment. A ‘top down’ approach (based on GDP) suggests that UK unemployment could rise to more than 3 million, or 10% of the workforce. But a less pessimistic ‘bottom up’ approach suggests … Continue reading How far will UK unemployment rise?
Plain-speaking Economics 