Articles by Oliver Hartwich

Die britischen Konservativen machen es Kommentatoren nicht gerade leicht. Kaum eine andere große europäische Volkspartei wird derzeit so widersprüchlich beurteilt wie die Tories unter ihrem Parteichef David Cameron. Für die einen steht Cameron für die Erneuerung und Verjüngung seiner Partei. Andere sehen genau darin den Ausverkauf konservativer Grundüberzeugungen. Wieder andere halten all dies nur für eine modernere Verpackung traditioneller politischer Konzepte.

The planning system has repercussions that are felt far beyond the housing market. Higher land prices affect every area of life which requires land or has a factor of production which is linked to land, whether it is residential housing, industry, commerce or services. Wherever land is needed, high land prices matter.

What kind of country is England? If you ask the people living here, the answer you are likely to get goes something like this: England is a country on an overcrowded island with ever-further sprawling cities and a countryside that is under constant threat of becoming covered in concrete by rampant development. According to a recent survey, 54 per cent of the respondents believed that at least half of England was developed with one in ten even estimating the development degree to be above 75 per cent. The reality, however, is far away from this perception.

We, therefore, believe that any future Chancellor should learn from Mr Brown’s experience and begin his stewardship of the economy with a step that matches Gordon Brown’s courage in giving independence to the Bank of England. This is why we suggest sourcing out both the stewardship of the fiscal rules and the Treasury’s economic forecasting activities to an independent Fiscal Policy Committee (FPC), to be modelled on the MPC. In fact, we think that this is the first policy decision that Gordon Brown’s successor should make.

In gewisser Weise ist es nur konsequent, dass die Briten versuchen, beim Klimaschutz eine globale Vorreiterrolle zu übernehmen. Sie haben damit angefangen – unter Margaret Thatcher.

In der Debattenkultur grassiert die Lust am Minderheitenstatus: Jeder fühlt sich allein und unverstanden. Ein vernünftiger Disput wird unmöglich.

Planning was introduced in 1947 as an attempt to co-ordinate, but also to promote development. Over time, however, its focus shifted to urban containment and it has become a brake on economic growth. It is high time to radically simplify the planning system to unleash the true development potential of the British economy.

WHAT makes a country rich? Reading British newspapers, the impression one could get is that ever-rising property prices contribute a great deal to our economic prosperity. House-price increases are usually reported as a good thing, but this is something that worries us a lot when they stagnate or even fall. But what do high house prices, and indeed high land prices, mean for the economy as a whole?