Research reports

Britain is in the midst of a pensions storm. Public sector pensions have soaring costs. Many private schemes have closed to new members, and stakeholder pensions have not hit their target. The state pension system is overly complicated and relies too much on means testing.

Quelling the Pensions Storm argues that the Government should learn from the past and make additional reforms to every part of the system. They should make it easier for employers to provide good pensions, confront the risks in personal accounts and introduce a new Single-Tier State Pension. The goal is better pensions for all.

According to Towards Better Transport, traffic congestion is now endemic, affecting not just large cities but also the core motorway network and small towns. It currently costs the UK economy in the region of £20bn per year, a figure set to rise significantly in the coming years, harming our future economic competitiveness and growth.

British towns and cities in receipt of substantial urban policy funding designed to bring them up to the economic standard nationally are, in fact, declining when judged by a whole range of indices. That is the worrying conclusion of Cities Limited which calls into question the value of the plethora of urban regeneration schemes delivered by a myriad of different agencies. Spending on the 14 core urban regeneration schemes in the last decade totals £30bn of public money.

All this presents UK economic policy with a challenge: to improve our infrastructure while reducing tax and regulatory burdens. This would increase the UK’s still disappointing productivity. In the long run, this is the key to economic growth. An economy built on lower taxes, lighter regulation and better infrastructure will be more sustainable than one built partly on rising house prices and extra debt.

Apart from rising house prices, first-time buyers have also been hit hard by the burden of taxation and regulation that is associated with moving house. Buying a property has become more expensive in recent years thanks to increases in stamp duty rates and the fact that stamp duty varies with house prices.

In three previous publications the report’s authors have shown that most of the problems with the housing market – low supply, high prices, overcrowding – can be attributed to the planning system.

Evans and Hartwich conclude in The Best Laid Plans that the main objective of planning has been to limit the spatial extent of cities and that this artificial reduction of land supply has severe consequences for society, the environment and the economy.

science vs superstition – the case for a new scientific enlightenment challenges the common belief that scientific progress in today’s world inevitably entails an element of danger or moral uncertainty. While many people seem to lack the vision of a genuinely better future, the authors of this collection of essays believe that it is time to make the case for a more positive attitude towards the future – a future that is made better through science.

The report makes a number of proposals, including allowing local authorities to retain more tax receipts arising from new developments to encourage them to attract new inhabitants to their areas; introducing a Social Cost Tariff worth £500,000 per hectare to compensate communities for the costs of development; and devolving all aspects of the planning system apart from minimum building targets to local authorities.