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Adam Smith’s ‘Theory of Productivity Growth’
The full title of Adam Smith’s major work is An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of
March 23, 2026
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Insights into Regulation
Adam Smith and the Navigation Acts
Marking the 250th anniversary year of the publication of the Wealth of Nations, in the second of a series
February 24, 2026
Insights into Regulation
Revisiting Adam Smith’s Four Principles of Taxation
In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith put forward four general principles that he judged a tax system should
January 30, 2026
Studies in Regulation
What happens when digital competition policy meets AI?
In this paper, Daniel Pryor argues that competition interventions in digital markets have often been premised on faulty economic
November 2, 2025
Past Learnings
Commercial Society and its Internal Enemies – A Smithian Synopsis
In this new piece in our Past Learnings Series, George Yarrow discusses the publicly perceived “untrustworthiness” of politicians
July 4, 2025
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
February 13, 2025
Past Learnings
Fabellia Revisited: A Thought Experiment on the Regulation of Migration Flows
The 6th piece in our series Past Learnings, this piece is an extensive re-working of a paper first published
January 21, 2025
Past Learnings
Past Learnings: Simple stories, complex systems and corrupted economics
The RPI’s latest piece in our Past Learnings Series discusses the complexity of economic systems and the common inability
October 29, 2024
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
October 21, 2024
Materials from Conferences
When is it important to recognise that not every x is a y?
This is a write-up of the session “Statistics in Regulation and Policy“, given at the RPI Annual Competition and
October 11, 2024
Past Learnings
The Division of Labour in Government and its Implications for Productivity Growth
Our 4th paper in our Past Learnings series, this short paper discusses the division of labour within the organisational
August 28, 2024
Past Learnings
The Economists’ Onion
This piece in the Past Learnings Series is based on a hitherto unpublished internal Regulatory Policy Institute Paper dating
August 7, 2024
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
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)
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
June 17, 2024
Books
Airport Enterprises: An Economic Analysis
‘Airport Enterprises: An Economic Analysis’ frames the airport firm as a business platform for a broad spectrum of commercial activities, some of which enjoy the characteristics of two-sided markets