Laws passed in late March 2020 to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic are the greatest restrictions on liberty in modern British history. Any benefits that have emerged as a side effect of the restrictions have been far exceeded by the costs to the economy and to civil liberties. Civil society and...

Coronavirus has raised questions about the use of public health resources in Britain. It has been argued that the government’s response was weakened by public health budget cuts and that public health expenditure saves money in the long run by reducing future healthcare costs. In reality,...

The World Health Organization and Public Health England have been widely criticised for their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper looks at what went wrong. The WHO has been accused of being credulous in its dealings with China and giving the world a false sense of security about the...

Price controls across many sectors are currently being hotly debated. New controls in the housing market, more onerous minimum wages, minimum prices for alcohol, and freezes on energy prices are very high up the agenda of most politicians at the moment. Even without any further controls, wages,...

This IEA publication deals head-on with a number of widely quoted myths about the market economy. In the case of the philosophical myths, such as the idea that economists believe that everybody is greedy, the author, Christopher Snowdon, carefully and entertainingly unpicks the misguided ideas...

The rise in obesity in recent decades is popularly believed to be the result of increased consumption of calories in general and sugar in particular.Campaigners have called for product reformulation, fat taxes and other anti-market policies to reduce calorie consumption at the population...

It is often asserted that supporters of a market economy believe that ‘greed is good’. This is simply not true. Economists know that people are capable of a range of thoughts, feelings, motivations and emotions and a market economy works regardless of whether people are selfish or...

It is widely believed that income inequality in the UK is rising and will spiral out of control unless action is taken by government. This briefing paper looks at income inequality data from the Office for National Statistics.The paper shows that there was a rise in inequality in the 1980s, but...

New research debunks the myths associated with extended opening hours.Summary:Introduced in 2005, the Licensing Act allowed more flexibility in pub, bar and nightclub opening times and allowed for the possibility of ’24 hour drinking’.It was widely predicted that the relaxation of licensing...

Drinkers subsidise non-drinkers by £6.5bn each yearThis study estimates the direct costs of alcohol use to the government in England, including the NHS, police, criminal justice system and welfare system. Taken together, they amount to a gross cost of £3.9 billion per annum (in 2015...