Inflation can alter the structure of tax systems and lead to higher real tax burdens. The ‘automatic stabiliser’ argument assumes that increasing tax burdens reduce consumption and thereby aggregate demand, acting as an automatic stabiliser which helps to ‘cool down’ the economy in times...

This paper examines UK business cycle fluctuations in 22 complete cycles since 1871. We catalogue the incidence and typical duration of UK business cycles. The summary statistics of the economy are explored, including the spectral density, sample covariation and cross spectrum of macroeconomic...

In a model of a two-period exchange economy under uncertainty, we find both upper and lower bounds for the risk free interest rate when the agents’ utility function exhibit constant absolute risk aversion. These bounds are independent of the degree of market incompleteness, and so these...

It is widely appreciated that institution building is at the heart of the transition process. Without functioning institutions markets cannot work effectively and the sustainability of the economic transition process can be undermined. The crisis in Russia provided just one piece of evidence in...

This paper contributes to the debate on investment in transport infrastructure and the allocation of public funds between road and railway projects. We use a consistent social cost-benefit methodology to appraise investment in typical new inter-urban road and rail project. Our results suggest...

This paper suggests a new approach to the empirical analysis of market structure. Market concentration is an aspect of distribution of market shares of firms, and market shares are best modelled at the firm level, bringing into play strategy choices made by firms. It follows that a useful...

Accountability of UK Debt Management: A Proposal' In this paper, we argue that UK debt management policy is insufficiently transparent and accountable. The debt management objectives are poorly understood and accountable, and partly as a consequence, there is no formal mechanism for performance...