Welcome to the IEA Weekend Newsletter!

• Election Mania
• Back to the future?
• Going green…
• Calling all undergraduates!
• Redefining ‘left’ and ‘right’
• Best of the Blog
• You’re Invited!

Election Mania

On Thursday Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the Conservative Party into a historic win, securing the Party’s largest majority since 1987 - as well as securing a mandate to vote through the reformed Withdrawal Agreement and leave the European Union. 

IEA spokespeople took to the airwaves to react to the breaking news.

Academic and Research Director Syed Kamall appeared on Al Jazeera to discuss what a Conservative win could mean for the free-market economics, while Head of Communications Emma Revell went live on France 24 to share her thoughts ahead of the results, and live on talkRADIO early Friday morning to discuss the aftermath of the results.

Meanwhile, our Director General Mark Littlewood joined Richard Quest on CNNi to discuss what the Conservative majority means specifically for business and Brexit.

As well, our Associate Director Kate Andrews spoke to BBC World Service about what the Conservative victory means for Brexit and the future of the UK’s economy. Listen here. 

But IEA spokespeople weren’t just busy on election night. Indeed, our staff have been commenting on the run-up to election day throughout the week. 

Kate argued in last week’s Sunday Express that both the Conservative and Labour manifestos could be criticised for lack of fiscal responsibility, and that the public are more aware than often given credit that they will be the ones to pay for big spending plans.

“If the promise of increased spending at no cost to your purse seems too good to be true, that’s because it’s an utter myth. It’s not just the rich who will pay, but all taxpayers.”

Read her full article here.

And in her final weekly column for City AM, Kate argued it now the time to remake the case for global liberalism. 

With the prospect of a future US UK trade deal ever closer, Kate suggested it could come to symbolise a turning point, with the narrative finally moving away from statist protectionism to the benefits that come along with free markets, free trade, and free people.

Read her full piece here.

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinted that a Conservative government would look again at the BBC's current funding model.

Emma responded to the news, arguing that it’s time to rethink the licence fee and introduce a subscriber-owned model, based on IEA report ‘New Vision: Transforming the BBC into a subscriber-owned mutual’.

Read her full article for CapX here.



And comments from our Senior Academic Fellow and author of the report, Prof Philip Booth, were carried by The Daily Telegraph.

Philip argued that:

"The licence fee is no doubt great value for some people. However, for others it will be poor value. That is why the BBC should be turned into a subscription service and become a mutual company owned by its subscribers.”

Read the full article here.

Back the the future?

This week, the IEA released ‘Renationalisation: Back to the Future?’, a new report examining the case for restoring water, energy, Royal Mail and the railways to public ownership. 

The report, authored by Economics Fellow Julian Jessop and Editorial and Research Fellow Professor Len Shackleton, argues that calls to bring key utilities under state control “ignore important lessons” from the post-war period.

Furthermore, despite some legitimate concerns over their recent performance, renationalisation of these industries is unlikely to resolve the current problems – and could well create new ones. 

Indeed, many of these problems are due to poor regulation and government meddling, which would be made worse under public ownership.

Read the full report here.

The report was trailed exclusively in the Sunday Telegraph and was then featured across the press, including in The Times, Daily Mail and on the front page of Monday’s Daily Telegraph. 

Julian’s comments were quoted at length in The Times:

“Most of the potential benefits of renationalisation could be achieved in other ways, including better regulation and more competition.

“In contrast, the potential costs are huge, especially if returning these industries to state control reverses the substantial improvements in performance since privatisation.”

Following on from the report, and the Labour Party’s announcement that would have sought to begin nationalising water and energy companies within 100 days of taking office, Len took to BBC Radio Ulster to plug the report’s findings. 

Len also penned a piece for CapX on the topic, which you can read here.



Over in Brussels, Len presented his thoughts on the popularity of renationalisation, at an event co-hosted by our Lithuanian sister organisation and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

Going green...

On the same day climate activist Greta Thunberg was named as Time Person of the Year, twelve free-market researchers gathered in Paris to find economically feasible solutions for the climate change.

While some are 'doom and gloom' and think that the only way our planet can survive is to massively cut back on our living standards (and stop globalisation that created the economic prosperity which has lifted billions out of poverty), these free-marketeers believe in the ingenuity of humans and innovative ideas that can tackle environmental harm.

On this occasion EPICENTER, our network of European think tanks, released a briefing, assessing the EU’s Green New Deal. 

The report urges decision makers to focus on adopting an innovation-friendly regulatory environment, and to take an impartial approach to technologies and energy sources in the transition towards a carbon neutral economy.

Read the full briefing here. 

Calling all undergraduates!

Don’t forget to enter the IEA’s joint essay competition with the Institute of International Monetary Research and the Vinson Centre at the University of Buckingham for your chance to win £1000. 

The Monetary Policy Essay Prize 2020 is open to all undergraduate students at UK universities. 

The understanding of how central banks make policy decisions is key to analyse a modern economy, particularly since the outbreak of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008/09.

Rigorous analysis of the effects of changes in the quantity of money on prices and output was forgotten and even neglected by nearly all in the years running up to the crisis. 

1st Prize is £1,000 - click here for more details!

Redefining ‘left’ and ‘right’

How can we make sense of the political realignment taking place in the United Kingdom?

In one of the very first Live from Lord North Street podcast episodes, the IEA’s Dr Stephen Davies discussed this topic with the IEA’s Kate Andrews. 

Having developed his political realignment theory for several years now, Steve offers in our podcast today an explanation of the ongoing political realignment, particularly highlighted by the UK’s most recent general election.

He discusses the triggers for change (including Brexit and the growing support for socialist ideas), the reshuffle of political structures, parties, voting blocs and redefinition of what it means to be on ‘the left’ and ‘the right’, both in the UK and abroad. 

Listen here.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean.

Best of blog

This week on the blog, Research Intern Joseph Douglas wrote about plans to revitalise economic development in Africa through the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

If all African states ratify the agreement, the AfCFTA will establish the world’s largest free trade area by population – encompassing 1.2 billion people. To date, 54 out of 55 African countries have signed the agreement.

Joseph argues that while this will benefit African development, African countries must strive for continent-wide property rights, by radically reforming their legal and institutional systems.

Effective property rights are considered a critical precondition for economic development, says Joseph, putting in place the necessary incentives and initiatives for entrepreneurial activity to thrive, and economic activity to flourish.

Read his full blog here.

You're Invited!

In Conversation with Neil Monnery

On Wednesday 22nd January from 6pm - 8pm, the IEA Book Club is delighted to host Neil Monnery, to discuss his latest book ‘A Tale of Two Economies: Hong Kong, Cuba and the Two Men who Shaped Them’.

As the world entered the turbulent 1960s, two men, half a world apart, both foreigners far from home, were charged with shaping the economic strategy of their adopted countries. 

One, Che Guevara, is well known as a revolutionary. The other, John Cowperthwaite, is largely unknown today. These two men are arguably the originators of the most significant natural economic experiment of the last century, pitting the free-market model of Hong Kong against the state interventionism in Cuba. 

This book looks at the very different paths chosen by Hong Kong and Cuba, and the central role of Ernesto, ‘Che’ Guevara and Sir John James Cowperthwaite.

If you would like to know more about the IEA Book Club, and attend the event, please email [email protected].