Welcome to the IEA Weekend Newsletter!

• Derailed?
• Platform for debate
• Fat Cats? Or Top Dogs?
• Health-y debate
• Hire calling...
• News from our Trustee!
• You're Invited!

Derailed?

On Wednesday the government announced it will be reviewing the costs and benefits of HS2, with plans to announce a green or red light for the high speed rail project by the end of the year. 



Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he wanted to “get to the bottom of this quickly”, saying he wasn’t certain the project represented value for money. 

The IEA’s Acting Research Director & Head of Transport, Dr Richard Wellings responded to the announcement, drawing on the extensive research he has undertaken on HS2.

He welcomed the Government’s plan to examine this “pricey project”, which he argued “should further highlight that the rail line is years behind schedule and will probably be tens of billions of pounds over-budget.”



Richard’s reaction was widely covered across the media. He spoke to Sky News, LBC and talkRADIO twice, arguing that it’s “ridiculous” to continue a project that we don’t know the full costs of - especially when it’s taxpayer money being spent.

Richard was also quoted in the Financial Times saying “there’s a large chance the project will be descoped…[as Government] will look for ways to keep the costs down.'' 

Richard was also quoted in The Sun claiming “the economic case for it never made much sense”.



Richard has long questioned the value of HS2. In an IEA report from 2014, he said the economic benefits of the rail project were likely to be nowhere near the Government’s estimates, and he forecast that the project was likely to be tens of billions of pounds over-budget. 



Richard has also written in the broadsheets at length about HS2, and the IEA’s Director General Mark Littlewood and Associate Director Kate Andrews have previously weighed in on the topic for the Times and City AM respectively.
 

Platform for debate

Following the decision to review HS2, IEA Digital Manager Darren Grimes discussed the news with Richard for our weekly podcast.



The two dissect the “undeniably” expensive HS2 scheme: £80 - £100 billion on mainly untested tech, with few railway experts thinking it can be delivered on time and on budget.

Richard cites HS2 as another example of “big government project disasters”.



You can find the podcast (unlike HS2) on a number of platforms: Twitter, Apple Music, Podbean and YouTube.

And to subscribe to our podcast, IEA Conversations, click here.

Fat Cats? Or Top Dogs?

Also this week, the High Pay Centre and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development released an analysis of FTSE 100 CEO salaries, noting that the average CEO had seen their pay fall, but is still earning 117 times the average worker’s salary.

Our Director General Mark Littlewood responded to the report, saying “comparing CEO salaries to the average salary serves to stoke public hostility, as a means of pressuring companies to cut salaries at the top.”

He said: “In a globalised economy, the role of the chief executive has become significantly more important; the successes, failures and sudden departures of CEOs can increase or diminish a company’s worth by billions of pounds – which can also result in the gain or loss of thousands of jobs.”

Mark was quoted in the Daily Telegraph, claiming it “misleads workers to believe that cuts at the top end will directly translate to top-ups at the bottom”.

Earlier this year, we released Top Dogs and Fat Cats, a collection of essays examining the high pay debate. Edited by IEA Editorial and Research Fellow Len Shackleton, the book looks as this heated and multifaceted debate from a number of perspectives.

Download the collection for free, here.

Health-y debate

On our blog this week, Kristian Niemietz, the IEA’s Head of Political Economy, focused on ‘The problem with “hidden agenda” accusations’.

His post discusses the criticisms he receives for his IEA book, Universal healthcare without the NHS.

The book highlights the benefits of social health insurance systems which would incorporate a more market-oriented approach. 

“Health insurers and healthcare providers enjoy a sufficient degree of autonomy, and are thus sufficiently different from one another” writes Kristian. 

Moreover, the systems are often more egalitarian, not just because they cover everyone, but because you can’t tell someone's socio-economic status just by their provider (which cannot be claimed in the US).

Kristian is bemused by his detractors’ “bizarre” line of attack, saying: “They now claim that what I describe in the book is not my true agenda.”

Hire calling...

We're pleased to announce Alex Hammond as the new Policy Advisor to our Director General! 

Alex has spent the last couple of years working at the highly reputed Cato Institute in Washington DC, in their Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. Alex will be joining the IEA team in September.

If you are interested in working for the UK’s original free-market think tank, this could be your chance...

The IEA is currently looking for two Communications staff members.

One role will focus on both traditional and new media, whilst the other will focus on parliamentary outreach (specifically the IEA’s FREER initiative). The roles report to the Associate Director, and sit within the IEA’s Media Centre.

Job titles, remuneration and specific duties will be determined based on the right candidate’s background and experience.

Qualified candidates should submit a CV and a cover letter to [email protected] with attention to Kate Andrews, Associate Director.

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. The final deadline is this upcoming Friday, 30th of August 2019 at 17.00 so there's no time to waste...

News from our Trustee!

An update from IEA Trustee Linda Whetstone:


 

You're Invited!

Canvassing ideas…

Coming around the corner is the Big Tent Ideas Festival. The festival is due to take place next Saturday August 31st.

The IEA is co-hosting the Economy Tent, where we will be hosting the first session - a head-to-head debate on the merits of capitalism! 

Shanker Singham, Director of the IEA's International Trade and Competition Unit, and Christopher Snowdon, our Head of Lifestyle Economics, are both scheduled to speak on panels in two of the eight tents.

Get further information about the festival, and your ticket, here.
 

Illuminating Discussion…

IEA Director General Mark Littlewood will take part in the HowTheLightGetsIn Festival - billed as “the world’s largest philosophy and music festival”.

Mark will sit on two panel discussions, as well as giving a solo talk.

The festival, featuring over 70 debates and talks, takes place on September 21 and 22. In and around Kenwood House and Gardens, London - “hidden away on the top of Hampstead Heath”. 

Tickets are currently on sale with discounted tickets for students and under 25s!

More information and access to tickets here.
 

Enlightening choice…

EPICENTER – our network of European think tanks – would like to welcome you to the 2019 edition of the Nanny State Index Conference, taking place in Brussels on the September 11.

Our Index, measuring lifestyle regulations in all 28 EU member states, gives the opportunity for policy makers to reflect on paternalistic regulations that curb consumer’s freedom of choice.

The annual conference features leading policy experts and politicians who discuss how the nanny state can be curbed all across Europe.

View the programme of the conference here or get your complimentary tickets here.