Economics

Perhaps high office holders do not need a higher education, let alone an economics degree. But they should at least know, and respect, the limits of their power.

Enjoy the relatively positive economic data while it lasts. But do not believe for a second it is sustainable.

Based on real-time data from the economy, a small team of researchers around Professor Christoph Schumacher has created a model to estimate current GDP as it happens.

The Covid-19 crisis does not and will not change the principles of economics – but that will not stop politicians from trying. We should not let them.

Just as we should not change the basic rules of rugby lest we destroy the game itself, we should not change the basic principle of the market, either. In rugby and in capitalism, the purpose is to win.

At my next housing discussion, I will not mention I am an economist. Instead, I will demand that houses grow on trees, that infrastructure funding falls from heaven, and that people stop charging each other for products and services. Kumbaya, kumbaya.

The Treasury should clarify the relationship between its Living Standards Framework and mainstream cost benefit analysis.

That’s what we should tell cheating students (and some developing economies): Don’t do it! You might end up like East Germany.