This week, the proposal to replace the state pension with a system of compulsory private saving is up for discussion. Also on the agenda are the debate over the “strange death of libertarianism” and a House of Lords committee’s call to ban gambling advertising.

Could a funded pension system on the Australian or Chilean model ever survive the politics of “scrapping the state pension”? Reformers from Peter Lilley to Chile’s architects tried to reassure voters that existing entitlements were safe. The discussion then turns to Daniel McCarthy’s argument that libertarianism has run out of steam, weighing up whether free marketeers have really won the battles of the past, what has happened to the word “libertarian”, and why the fusionist alliance between free marketeers and conservatives is holding in Britain even as it breaks down in America. The discussion closes with the Lords’ case for banning gambling adverts despite the absence of any evidence of harm, and what the precautionary principle means for evidence-based policymaking.

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On interest rates, the panel debate whether the Bank is right to hold steady given inflation driven largely by oil and petrol prices, and whether expectations of future rises are justified. They then turn to tax, weighing up the practical costs of inheritance tax collection against the principle of taxing unearned wealth, before broadly agreeing that stamp duty is one of the more damaging taxes to scrap first. On school food, they question the evidence behind new rules limiting pastry, breadcrumbs and processed meat, and argue the policy should be a matter for individual schools rather than national government. The conversation closes with a look at why Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion protests have returned, and why net zero, once an unchallenged cross-party consensus, is now facing a growing electoral backlash as energy costs rise.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support to any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

Snowdon explains how so-called “voluntary agreements” with industry are backed by the implicit threat of regulation, pointing to the ZEV mandate’s fines on car manufacturers and the food reformulation scheme’s sugar and calorie targets. He discusses the Government’s growing suspicion of the price mechanism, from energy bills to rent controls, and cites IEA polling showing the public wildly overestimates supermarket profit margins. The conversation also compares this system to Nazi Germany’s economic model and the FDR-era United States, before turning to post-Brexit farm subsidies and closing on why consumers, not politicians, ultimately decide what succeeds.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support to any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

The conversation opens with an assessment of the Chancellor’s speech, questioning whether its talk of devolved spending pots and light-touch regulation marks a genuine shift from the previous Treasury approach or simply a change in presentation, and examining what the pledge for “public control” over industries such as water and buses would actually mean in practice given the state of the public finances. Daniel Freeman and Christopher Snowdon then turn to the findings of the ongoing review into youth unemployment, discussing why so many young people are being signed off with mental health conditions, how sickness benefit assessments have changed since the pandemic, and what reform might look like. The episode closes with a look at the 2025 PISA results, in which English pupils held their position against a backdrop of declining outcomes across most of the OECD, while Scottish and Welsh results fell sharply, and what that divergence suggests about curriculum reform and its link, or lack of one, to economic growth.

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The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

On austerity, Julian argues that the “savage cuts” of the 2010s are largely a myth: headline public spending continued to grow in real terms through the decade, even as it fell as a share of national income. He makes the case that controlling the deficit after 2008 was necessary to avoid a bigger crisis, while acknowledging that capital spending, including on prisons, was cut further than it should have been. He also connects the tighter borrowing conditions the UK faces today, sometimes called the “idiot premium”, to concerns that the Government is not as serious about the public finances as the coalition was in the early 2010s.

On Brexit, Julian argues the overall economic data shows it was largely a non-event, with UK growth tracking similarly to France and Germany since 2016. He points instead to high energy costs as a better explanation for the UK’s underperformance, and sets out benefits from Brexit including new trade deals, lower tariffs, smarter regulation and reduced budget contributions to the EU. Asked to score austerity and Brexit out of ten for their role in Britain’s growth slowdown, Julian gives both a zero.

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The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

Niemietz and Snowdon also examine the causes of Britain’s economic stagnation, and challenge the argument, revived in a recent speech by Andy Burnham, that the slowdown can be traced back to Margaret Thatcher’s reforms in the 1980s. They set out why the 1980s and Major years were, by historical standards, a period of strong growth, and question what a modern “post Thatcherite” settlement actually looks like.

The discussion turns to Donald Trump’s deal securing a share of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the Netherlands’ decision to move its gold reserves from the US to the UK, and what these episodes suggest about the reliability of American alliances. They close by discussing the psychological impact of Trump’s foreign policy on the UK and its allies, the Democratic Party’s choice of presidential candidates, and whether the old guard of Reaganite conservatism looks more appealing by comparison.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

This event marks the launch of the Institute of Economic Affairs’ new book, The Great Stagnation: Why Britain Stopped Growing. The panel is chaired by Daniel Freeman, Managing Editor and Deputy Editorial Director at the IEA, with opening remarks from Lord Daniel Hannan, Director General of the IEA, and Andrew Griffith MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. The panellists are Tom Clougherty, independent policy advisor and former Executive Director of the IEA; Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow at the IEA; Julia Williams, co-founder of the Centre for British Progress; and Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director at the IEA. Together they examine why UK growth per head has flatlined over the past two decades, and what might be done about it.

Andrew Griffith opens by setting out the scale of the problem, from record government borrowing to interest payments that now exceed the combined defence and NHS budgets, before making the case for lower taxes, deregulation and reform of employment law and judicial review. The panel then turns to the causes of the slowdown. Tom Clougherty argues that post financial crisis regulation choked off business investment and looks at how repeated spikes in marginal tax rates on capital have held back recovery, while Julian Jessop makes the case that neither austerity nor Brexit can explain Britain’s poor performance.

Julia Williams raises the risk that Britain is unprepared for the economic disruption of artificial intelligence, given how much of the economy depends on service sector jobs. Kristian Niemietz sets out his “defence of stupid growth”, arguing that the UK simply does not build enough homes, roads or energy capacity to sustain growth, whatever else it gets right. The discussion closes with audience questions covering tax on high earners, comparisons with Sweden and the Nordic countries, South Korea and the United States, and the effect of an ageing population on Britain’s growth prospects.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

The conversation turns to the effect of minimum wage increases and higher employer National Insurance on youth unemployment, which has risen sharply since 2022. They also discuss the expansion of university education, arguing that too many young people are funnelled into degrees rather than apprenticeships or technical education, and consider the Government’s proposed mansion tax, including the prospect of tax inspectors assessing property values above £2 million. The discussion also covers why the UK’s tax burden, now around 40% of GDP, is at its highest level since 1947.

The episode closes with a look at Iceland’s referendum on reopening negotiations to join the EU, weighing up what Iceland stands to gain or lose on fisheries, agriculture and trade if it were to give up its current arrangement within the European Economic Area.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views expressed here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

Len explains why the minimum wage is more complicated than a simple “does unemployment spike or not” question, covering its effect on youth unemployment and NEETs, wage compression further up the pay scale, and how the minimum wage now effectively sets pay for around a quarter of private sector workers. He also looks at how the growth of employment mandates, from the Equality Act to unfair dismissal rules, has pushed up the cost of hiring, and argues that many of these costs end up being paid by workers themselves through lower wages rather than by employers.

The conversation also covers the rapid rise of occupational licensing in Britain, which now covers 22% of the workforce, up from 13% in 2011, with examples including social work and undertaking. Len rates employment regulation as one of the more significant barriers to UK economic growth. If you would like to read Len’s chapter on labour market regulation, it is available in digital format now, with the full book, The Great Stagnation: Why Britain Stopped Growing, out in paperback on 2 September.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The panel opens with new earnings figures showing public sector pay rising faster than private sector pay, and examines how the Employment Rights Act has added hidden costs for employers that are being absorbed through slower wage growth rather than paid openly. They discuss why the number of people on the Government payroll has grown substantially over the past decade despite falling public sector productivity, and debate whether a smaller, leaner state might actually work harder. The conversation then turns to net zero, looking at new research on the costs it adds to household energy bills, before moving to a lighter discussion of gambling sponsorship in football, the economics of banning adverts for so-called sin industries, and what snooker’s history with tobacco sponsorship reveals about unintended consequences.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

Tom sets out a hierarchy of taxes from least to most damaging to growth, explaining why well-structured property taxes are the least harmful while stamp duty is, per pound raised, the most destructive tax in the system. He discusses why Britain raises more in property taxes than any other developed country while doing so in one of the most economically damaging ways possible, and makes the case for broadening the VAT base to fund cuts elsewhere. The discussion also covers the political reasons why the least damaging taxes tend to be the most unpopular, why governments have grown reluctant to make difficult trade-offs, and what a genuinely pro-growth tax system might look like, including a move towards a flatter income tax and lower taxes on investment.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

James traces the rise and fall of welfare reform since Iain Duncan Smith’s changes in the 2010s, and argues the system has drifted back out of control since. He sets out why he believes sanctions and “tough love” are essential to any serious reform, criticises the effect of a rising minimum wage on youth employment, and discusses what he calls middle class guilt as a driver of welfare failure. The discussion also covers school choice and the case for expanding the private and free school sector, before turning to James’s work memorialising the victims of communism, including the newly unveiled Tank Man statue.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

Kristian and Christopher discuss whether Burnham’s high street crackdown is targeting a real problem or conflating legitimate businesses with criminal activity, and what the decline of the traditional high street actually means for housing and town centres. They then turn to social care, weighing up means testing, inheritance, and the case for a compulsory insurance model against the idea of a fully taxpayer funded national care service. The discussion closes with an assessment of J.D. Vance’s recent comments on GDP and economics, and what the growing rift between free market and nationalist conservatives means for the future of the political right.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

David explains how energy use has declined per capita and in absolute terms since 2008, with the UK now using less energy per person than countries such as Belarus and Uzbekistan. He sets out the various renewable subsidy schemes, including the renewables obligation and contracts for difference, and how ballooning transmission costs are pushing bills higher still. The discussion also covers the practicalities and costs of alternatives such as nuclear power and gas, and how planning delays and regulatory hurdles are driving up the price of new infrastructure across the board.

The interview concludes with a look at the wider consequences of high energy costs, including the decline of British steel and fertiliser production and the broader deindustrialisation of the economy. David argues that energy costs are one of the most significant, if underappreciated, drivers of the UK’s growth struggles since 2008.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

https://x.com/SoumayaKeynes

In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, IEA Managing Editor Daniel Freeman is joined by Soumaya Keynes, economics columnist at the Financial Times and host of The Economics Show, to discuss her new book How to Win a Trade War. They cover the collapse of the old rules based global trading system, why the US lost faith in the World Trade Organisation’s dispute settlement process, and how the first and second Trump administrations approached trade policy differently.

The conversation examines whether tariffs actually reduce a country’s trade deficit, the difference between bilateral and current account imbalances, and why China’s rerouting of supply chains through third countries has complicated efforts to reshore manufacturing. Soumaya sets out the case for and against trade barriers from a UK perspective, including the pressure Britain may face to align with EU trade defences against Chinese imports, and discusses the growing argument for protecting domestic industrial capacity on economic security grounds, drawing on historical examples including Germany’s dye industry before the First World War.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

On the first topic, Kristian and Chris argue that America’s GDP advantage over Europe is real and widening, and push back on attempts to explain it away through hours worked, lifestyle preferences, or selective social comparisons. They point to lower energy costs, more liberal labour market institutions, and a stronger post-2008 recovery as key drivers of the gap. The discussion then turns to the Government’s “social value” procurement rules, which require companies bidding for public contracts to meet a wide range of non-economic criteria. Chris sets out how these requirements have expanded since 2012 and argues they function as a hidden tax that adds cost without adding value. The conversation closes with a discussion of a recent academic misconduct case, and what it reveals about institutional incentives and groupthink within universities.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

Dr Boboc explains how Britain moved from the rapid railway expansion of the Victorian era to a planning system defined by lengthy approvals, an ever expanding list of statutory consultees, and unpredictable, open ended costs. He argues that a single point of approval sits alongside a near limitless number of bodies able to demand mitigations, driving up costs without anyone weighing them against each other. Using HS2 and the associated “bat tunnel” as examples, he sets out how conservation and amenity demands from local campaigners can add huge sums with little central coordination. He also compares UK costs unfavourably with countries such as Norway, Japan and France, and highlights the Lower Thames Crossing’s approvals bill as an example of money spent before any construction begins. The discussion closes with reflections on how centralising financial risk within the Treasury discourages private investment, and what reforms, such as reducing statutory consultees and diversifying who can promote infrastructure projects, might help.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

The discussion opens with Mamdani’s pledge to sell goods 30% below market price in five city-owned stores, with Niemietz and Snowdon examining why the policy is likely to run into supply and cost problems, and why it functions more as a political message than a workable solution. They contrast this with the economic distinction between subject subsidies, where the state gives people money to spend as they choose, and object subsidies, where the state directly provides or subsidises a good, and explain why most economists favour the former. The conversation then turns to Burnham’s proposal to let 14 year olds pursue technical and vocational pathways in schools, set against the backdrop of NEET numbers passing one million in the UK. Niemietz and Snowdon disagree over whether the underlying problem is one of education supply or labour market demand, touching on youth unemployment, the minimum wage, and the Employment Rights Act. The episode closes with a discussion of the row over a T-shirt referencing violence against Nigel Farage, reported to the police by Reform after Polanski shared an image of it, and what the episode reveals about the state of free speech debate in Britain.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

Kristian explains how the rationing of building land dates back to the nationalisation of development rights in the late 1940s, and how this has left Britain with smaller and fewer homes per person than most of Western Europe, a shortfall he puts at around 5 million houses. He argues this isn’t a problem of physical space, since only around a tenth of land in Britain is developed, but a political failure to release land in the places where growth is happening. The discussion also covers how the same constraints hit commercial and retail space, choking off growth in productive areas like Cambridge, and considers pushback points including why growth held up through the 1980s and 90s despite the same planning laws, and whether recent political enthusiasm for building more will actually be followed through. Kristian ends by rating land use regulation as roughly an eight out of ten barrier to UK economic growth.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

The conversation opens with Burnham’s early policy moves, including the VAT cut on domestic fuel and the bus fare cap, before turning to the wider economic philosophy behind “Burnhamism” and its scepticism of 1980s privatisation. Lord Hannan and Dr Snowdon debate whether Burnham can govern within his own fiscal rules and backbench pressures, and whether an early general election is now more likely than markets expect. The discussion then turns to Britain’s welfare bill, examining why nearly one in four Britons now claim some form of disability, the incentives created by the benefits system since the pandemic, and the case for reform. The episode closes with a look at the new Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero following Ed Miliband’s move to the Foreign Office, and what her background at the New Economics Foundation could mean for North Sea licensing, fracking, and the future of Britain’s net zero strategy.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support to any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.