Past Learnings
The Economists’ Onion
This piece in the Past Learnings Series is based on a hitherto unpublished internal Regulatory Policy Institute Paper dating from 2012.
August 7, 2024
Documents
Insights into Regulation
Entrepreneurship as human capital
Entrepreneurship is something of a ‘ghost in the machine’ so far as most economic theorising is concerned. It’s widely mentioned and tends to be encouraged by politicians, but detailed analysis of the concept is largely missing from standard economics. So, we ask: what is its nature, why is it important, and what (very briefly) might be done to encourage it?
July 19, 2024
Insights into Regulation
Elegant regulation vs ‘retail politics’
A quick web-search for the meaning of the word elegant yields the following (from Oxford languages): Adjective : (1) graceful and stylish in appearance or
June 21, 2024
Past Learnings
Why competition? 250 years of learning and forgetting in Political Economy
The notion that promoting competition is a Good Thing has become a consistent theme in economic policymaking in recent decades, accompanied by an implication that “the more of it the better” should be a presumptive policy stance. In contrast, very many members of the public appear to find these propositions far from obvious, not least those who are owners of, or workers for, business enterprises.
June 17, 2024
Past Learnings
Fairness, the Ultimatum Game and Public Policy
The notion of ‘fairness’ is widely referenced in public policymaking and enforcement, but with no settled meaning. What we see is incoherent application of the notion across economic contexts, a form of policy disorder with which we are well familiar. Moreover, the disorder (‘entropy’) appears to be increasing over time.
June 17, 2024
Insights into Regulation
Immigration and the Ultimatum Game
Alongside the Prisoners Dilemma, study of the Ultimatum Game (UG) and its variants is a rich source of experimental observations on human attitudes and conduct
May 28, 2024
Insights into Regulation
Securonomics: slogan and substance
Slogans can provide politicians with useful ways of signalling policy objectives. The “tough on crime, and tough on the causes of crime” slogan used by
April 30, 2024
Insights into Regulation
UK Defence Policy – ‘seeing’ the whole terrain
The human brain has evolved over eons into a hemispheric structure, allowing a lateralisation of attention to our surroundings. The right-hemisphere (RH) ‘presences’ the world
March 18, 2024
Insights into Regulation
Lao Tzu’s advice and UK Post Office governance
The Tao Te Ching is an ancient classic of Chinese Daoism whose authorship is conventionally attributed to a certain Lao Tzu. It contains advice on how to be a Sage, a person with sagacity. Significant sections are clearly directed at leaders in governance.
January 22, 2024
Insights into Regulation
Plans versus Strategies: what can we learn from the Robin Redbreast?
‘No battle plan survives contact with the enemy’ was a sentiment expressed by Field Marshall von Moltke (the Elder), who knew a thing or two
October 15, 2023
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