The system of contracting out of state pensions – a form of pension privatisation – operated very successfully in the UK until recent years with cross-party support. This was very important in ensuring that the UK system of private pension provision was one of the most successful in the...

Since the early 2000s, the NHS has improved according to most measures of quality and performance. Survival rates for major diseases have increased, waiting lists have been shortened, and the prevalence of hospital infections has been reduced.This improvement has come from a very low base so...

Radical solutions need to be sought to get people off welfare and back into workIn the thirty-second IEA Discussion Paper, Poverty Research Fellow Kristian Niemietz puts forward solutions which would substantially simplify the welfare system, put in place better incentives to encourage work and...

Government’s timid reform will not solve chronic housing affordability problemsNot enough is being done to reduce the extraordinarily high cost of housing in Britain. This is the finding of a new report released today by the Institute of Economic Affairs Abundance of land, shortage of...

The renationalisation of rail infrastructure has not been a success. Network Rail has been plagued by crisis after crisis, with major projects hit by delays, mismanagement and large cost overruns. Its problems echo those suffered by the inefficient nationalised industries of the post-war period....

Not only is a high proportion of traffic regulation detrimental to road safety, the economy, and the environment, but it also imposes huge costs on road-users, taxpayers, and communities. Traffic regulation is often introduced without analysing the full cost to road-users. From 2000 to 2014,...

Although the rail industry was privatised in the 1990s, the sector is still subject to substantial government intervention, including the imposition of price controls on a high proportion of fares.Fare regulation causes overcrowding on rail services by artificially inflating demand at particular...

Challenging the economic case for this white elephantExecutive summary:There is a significant risk that High Speed 2 (HS2) will become the latest in a long series of government big-project disasters with higher-than-forecast costs and lower-than-forecast benefits. HS2 is not commercially viable...

Although the rail industry was privatised in the 1990s, the sector is still subject to substantial government intervention, including the imposition of price controls on a high proportion of fares.Fare regulation causes overcrowding on rail services by artificially inflating demand at particular...

Transport played a central role during the pandemic, with aviation facilitating the rapid global spread of Covid-19. The sector was targeted by governments that imposed draconian restrictions on mobility in an attempt to reduce transmission, but at the same time supported the aviation and rail...