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Insights into Regulation

On tariffs and tanks – M. Bastiat vs. Mr Trump

Scaling geologic time to (say) one year, homo sapiens has existed for less than an hour. In that twinkling of an eye, we have developed some capacity for foresight – an enormous evolutionary leap in one of nature’s creatures.

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Insights into Regulation

The Costs of Change

“Change” was the slogan of the British Labour Party in the recent General Election. It certainly didn’t do serious damage to electoral prospects; but it

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person holding clear glass jar with green plant
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?

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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.

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abstract close up cobweb connection
Insights into Regulation

The merits of Merits Review

As set out in To ‘see’, or not to ‘see’: that is the question. Moving on from a half-brained system of economic governance – (rpiresearchgroup.org), the half-brained governance thesis (“H-BGT”) is suggestive of a wide range of relevancies to areas of public policy where development thinking seems to be struggling. One such is the question of whether regulatory and competition policy decisions by designated agencies should be subject to review on their merits, as administrative decisions, not just on their conformity with acceptable procedures.

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