Investment is key to economic growth. We could enjoy now the pleasures that funds can bring. Sometimes we put some of that money into projects we hope will bring us future gain.

An interesting and useful economic point made in The Observer (of all places): According to official figures, factory output accounts for 8.2% of national income, or gross domestic product (GDP), down from about 30% in 1970, indicating the diminishing role manufacturing plays in the UK economy.

Given that we are all Motoserristas these days, on the hunt for what government should no longer do and thereby increasing the fructification in the pockets of the populace, useful to find that the Arts Council is not fit for function:

Much pondering going on over how to revive the London stock markets. Perhaps we should force public pensions funds to buy UK shares?

This week, everyone’s favourite government agency, the Office of National Statistics (ONS), announced that inflation had hit a new 10-month high of 3 percent in January – well above the Bank of England’s forecast.

In his blog post "Ten Things Every Economist Should Know," Dr Pirie includes an important observation: "Modeling has limitations. Some economists like to produce neat, clean models of how economies work.

If you find it weird that a series on US trade should touch on housing, please soldier on for a few paragraphs.

Incentives matter. No, really, a very basic law of life - incentives matter:

The ASI is often described as centre-right because of its neoliberal approach to trade and its emphasis on markets and competition. It is far from a populist outlook that is anti-immigrant, anti-drugs, anti-lifestyle choice and traditionalist moral values.

When this idea was first floated we were all in favour of it for the joy and amusement that would follow.

In a famous, some might say infamous, interview for Woman’s Own in 1987, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared:

As we keep insisting the beating heart of the very idea of a market economic system is that we get to try many - even all - things and then do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.