ASI Fellow Preston Byrne quoted in City AM

Adam Smith Fellow, Preston Byrne, was quoted in City AM on restructuring legal aid.

Read the article here.

"Adam Smith Institute fellow Preston Byrne has argued that the UK might adopt a different model. "Remuneration structures for legal aid mean that service providers have traditionally had no incentives to compete on price, competing instead on the basis of reputation," he writes."

ASI report 'Burning Down the House' featured in the Wall Street Journal

The Adam Smith Institute report Burning Down the House was featured in the Wall Street Journal article 'Britain's Bad Housing Bet.'

Read the article here.

"As London's Adam Smith Institute put it in a recent report, "Non-participating taxpayers, in addition to paying for the loans, will have to work against them as the infusion of government liquidity increases competition for limited supplies of land." Translation: The injection of a government subsidy adds demand-side heat to an already boiling market."

Nikkei Asian Review interviews Charlotte Bowyer on the future of Bitcoin

Education Manager and Research Associate, Charlotte Bowyer, was interviewed by the Nikkei Asian Review on the future of cryptocurrencies; specifically Bitcoin.

Read the interview here.

Sam Bowman quoted in BBC News article

Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, was quoted in the BBC News article '10 ways to cool the housing market'.

Read the article here.

"Although building on brownfield sites - like old hospitals or factories - is preferable, there are simply not enough sites to go around, particularly in London and the South East, where the population is rising fastest.

"Sam Bowman, research director at the Adam Smith Institute, has argued for a while that local authorities should allow building on greenbelt land. "By rolling back the greenbelt by just one mile around London, we would have space for one million new homes," he said this week."

Press Release: Miliband's minimum wage proposal will harm UK's poorest

Commenting on Ed Miliband’s proposal to tackle low pay with a five-year plan to set a higher minimum wage linked to average earnings, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr. Eamonn Butler, said:

“The motive may be noble, but the policy itself is mistaken. A minimum wage helps only those who are already in work. It makes life more difficult for the very poorest, namely those who are out of work.

“When minimum wages were introduced in the UK in 1999, they did not seem to add to unemployment. But the starting rate was set very low initially and with business and employment racing ahead, the job-killing effect of a low minimum wage was hard to see. (http://www.adamsmith.org/sites/default/files/images/uploads/publications/Minimum_Wage.pdf)

“It became much easier to see after the 2008 financial crash, though. The first people that hard-pressed employers dispense with, and the last they choose to hire, are people like unskilled workers, young people who need to be trained up, women who want flexible hours, minority groups, and people on benefits who may have to learn or re-learn the habits of work.

“These are the very groups that the policy is intended to help. But the post-crash unemployment statistics, with close to a million young people out of work, show that it does exactly the opposite. Starter jobs dry up. Young people or those on benefits cannot even get on the first step of the jobs ladder.

“The minimum wage is well-meaning policy – but sadly, a wholly counterproductive one. If you really want to help the poorest, you should help them by improving their access to paid work, by cutting workplace regulation and taxes.”

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778 207.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Sam Bowman advocates for a basic income on BBC Radio 4

Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, argues for a basic income (also known as a negative income tax) on BBC Radio 4. Listen to the interview here. (start at 25:05)

ASI Research Director quoted in ITV article

Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, was quoted in an ITV news article discussing Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney's, decision to keep the Bank out of the housing crisis. Read the article here.

Sam Bowman quoted in City AM on housing crisis

Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, was quoted in City AM agreeing with Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, that the Bank is not in a position to increase housing.

Read the article here.

“The green belt is one example of how legislation is pumping up prices by choking supply. Planning permission is so valuable that a piece of agricultural land that receives planning permission for construction will increase in value by 100 times. ”

Dr Eamonn Butler's comments on HMRC featured in the Daily Mail

Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, was featured in the Daily Mail on Saturday, arguing that the new HMRC proposals are ‘a fundamental assault on the rule of law.’

Read the article here.

Press Release: Carney is right – the only cure for the housing crisis is to build more

Responding to Mark Carney's comments on the housing market, Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, said: "Mark Carney's comments on house prices are timely and accurate: the house price boom in London, the South-East and the East Midlands is fundamentally down to a lack of housing. As a supply-side crisis, not a demand-side crisis, there is little the Bank of England can do to get house prices under control. Help to Buy is an unwise policy that is inflating demand without increasing supply, but it is thankfully probably too small to make a substantial difference to house prices overall.

"The Green Belt is one example of how legislation is pumping up prices by choking supply. Planning permission is so valuable that a piece of agricultural land that receives planning permission for construction to take place will increase in value by one hundred times. By rolling back the Green Belt by just one mile around London, we would have space for one million new homes. Only substantial planning liberalization by the government can make it easier for new houses to be built and house prices to return to sane levels."

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778 207.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.