The fifth in our series of seminars with economic experts took place on 11 March with a discussion on fiscal austerity with Jonathan Portes, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). Below is a brief overview of our discussion, with short audio clips. Read more
Today, Green Alliance has published new analysis on the ‘great resource price shock’.
We show that food and energy prices have risen faster than other prices in the past ten years and how, if the cost of these resources had kept pace with other prices, the average household could have saved over £1,000 on food and household energy bills in 2012.
If this trend continues, by 2020 household food and energy bills could have risen by another £1,675. Read more
This post first appeared on the New Statesman blog.
Among the many extravagant claims made by supporters of fracking, perhaps the most absurd is that it will lead to a renaissance in British manufacturing. George Osborne picked up this theme last week when he argued that cheap energy was leading manufacturers to return to the US and he wanted to see this happen in Britain. Read more
This post by Green Alliance’s chief economist Julian Morgan first appeared on BusinessGreen.
Visit the ONS website and you will find many interesting statistics, but perhaps not the ones that you are looking for. Last week I stumbled across a very salient example. Under the heading “manufacture of measuring, testing and navigating equipment” you can find monthly data on the average earnings of those making watches and clocks. Indeed, I noticed that they seem to be doing rather well, as provisional estimates suggest their pay rose 3.6 per cent in the year to March 2013. Read more
This post by Green Alliance’s chief economist Julian Morgan. It first appeared on the New Statesman economics blog.
Ministers should not be under any illusion that public spending on high carbon projects offers a quick economic fix.
Amid all the headlines about the biggest programme of road building for 40 years and announcements of new support for fracking, you would be forgiven for thinking that the recent Comprehensive Spending Review meant an abandonment of plans to decarbonise Britain’s economy. Thankfully, that’s not what our analysis of the Treasury’s own numbers shows as the plans for upgrading Britain’s infrastructure still remain focussed on public transport and renewable energy. However, there are major contradictions at the heart of the government’s policy, which risk deterring the very private sector investors who are needed to implement many of these projects.
Inside track 