ASI Research Director's comments on Germany's shock 0.2% contraction are featured in The Daily Mail

Comments from the Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, regarding Germany's shock 0.2% contraction were featured in The Daily Mail:

Inflation in the eurozone dropped back to 0.6 per cent in July from 0.7 per cent in June, facing the ECB with the spectre of deflation and prompting fresh calls for another round of quantitative easing.

Sam Bowman, research director of the Adam Smith Institute, said Germany's contraction might be a wake-up call to the ECB that it is driving Europe's economies into the ground.

'Tight money is almost entirely to blame for the Eurozone's current problems: as the rest of the world has slowly recovered from the Great Recession with relatively accommodative monetary policy, Europe has sunk back into deep recession,' he said.

He added that the ECB's failure to reach its 2 per cent inflation target had resulted in a 'musical chairs' problem, where there is not enough money circulating in the Eurozone to match people's wage demands, in turn resulting in 'unprecedentedly' high unemployment in many Eurozone countries.

'Once, economists warned that Europe faced a Japan-style "lost decade" of unemployment and economic stagnation. That now seems like wishful thinking: because the ECB has kept money so tight and so much wealth has been lost, the Eurozone is likely to be in extremely bad shape for many years to come,' Bowman said.

'If the ECB was really willing to do "whatever it takes" to reach its inflation target, including quantitative easing, it could bring the Eurozone back to growth. The eurozone has needed easier money for years now; now that Germany does too, it may finally see it.'

Read the full article here.

ASI report “Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football” is featured in City AM

The Adam Smith Institute's latest report, “Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football” is featured in City AM.

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke proposes limiting imports to English leagues, arguing that more playing time for homegrown youngsters will improve England’s performance.

But a report published today by think tank the Adam Smith Institute found no link between the number of minutes played by native footballers in England, Spain, Germany and Italy and their national team’s world ranking.

Read the article here.

The report, written by ASI Head of Policy Ben Southwood, finds that the Football Association's plan to crack down on foreign players in the Premier League would damage the league’s quality and success in European club competitions, without any benefit to the English national team’s performance.

Read the full report here: “Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football”

ASI Report "Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football" is featured in the Yorkshire Post

A new Adam Smith Institute report, "Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football" is featured twice in the Yorkshire Post as a front-page news story and feature article.

Despite its claim to be “the most watched league in the world” there have long been concerns about its impact on the England team with fewer young, homegrown players getting the chance to play on the big stage.

However, a new report published today by the Adam Smith Institute challenges the view that restricting the number of overseas players would benefit the national game, claiming there is no link between the amount of time home-grown stars play in the Premier League and the performance of the English team.

The study, the first research of its kind, found that the same goes for the other major leagues in Europe — Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A.

It also pours cold water on the FA’s plan to crack down on foreign players in the Premier League, saying it would damage the league’s quality and success in European club competitions.

The report, Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football, has been pieced together using Fifa’s world rankings, as well as data recording the number of hours played by English footballers over a period stretching more than 20 years.

Its author, Ben Southwood, head of policy at the economic think-tank, says the findings challenge the idea that “importing” foreign footballers to the UK means English players have fewer opportunities to play for the top clubs.

Read the full feature here.

The report, written by ASI Head of Policy Ben Southwood, finds that the Football Association's plan to crack down on foreign players in the Premier League would damage the league’s quality and success in European club competitions, without any benefit to the English national team’s performance.

Read the full report here: “Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football”

ASI report “Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football" is featured by the Press Association

The Adam Smith Institue's new report, “Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football" was picked up by the Press Association and featured in over 60 regional and local publications.

The Football Association has been urged to research the impact of foreign players on English footballers after a new report claimed they do not harm the national team.

A target of increasing the number of English players in the Premier League from 32% to 45% by 2022 emerged in FA chairman Greg Dyke's England Commission review , which also suggested allowing top clubs to introduce B teams and an overhaul of the work permit system in an attempt to boost the English game.

But a report released by the Adam Smith Institute today claims the success of the Premier League would be " drastically harmed" by a crackdown on foreign players.

It argues that it found little evidence of a link between the total amount of minutes played by English players in the Premier League and the success of the English national team, as measured by Fifa rankings.

The report adds that it can find no similar links in the top divisions of Germany, Italy or Spain, while it also claims it has found that allowing more "foreign talent" into a league corresponds with how well teams from that division are expected to do in European competitions.

A series of calculations was carried out for the research, which considered factors including the number of minutes played by English footballers in the Premier League - plus a similar look at native players in the top division in Spain, Germany and Italy - a nation's performance at World Cups and European Championships and the strength of a nation's domestic teams in European competitions.

The figures account for the number of minutes played by English footballers in the Premier League since it began in 1992/93, while also considering similar data for Spain, Germany and Italy since the 2009/10 season.

It includes information provided by data specialists Opta as well as the author's calculations.

T he paper concluded that the evidence is "not conclusive" and there are many ways the research could be developed to achieve a "more complete picture", including whether young foreign footballers help or hinder their English counterparts in youth academies.

It added: "But for now, the state of the published research suggests foreign players enhance competitiveness and the quality of the league and do not harm the national team.

"The FA must do this extra research or keep the current state of the literature in mind as it sets football policy."

The paper does not offer an alternative view on why England perform worse at international tournaments.

Ben Southwood, author of the paper and head of policy at the Adam Smith Institute, said he had spent between four and five months compiling the report.

He said: "It is widely believed that England's perceived under-performance at recent international competitions owes something to the reduced fraction of minutes English players are playing in the Premier League, but up until now no-one's really studied the question with any kind of rigour.

"My numbers are not final but they suggest there is no real link between the amount of football English players play in the Premier League - or across the top four European Leagues - and English international performance.

"If the reduced quantity of experience is a problem, then it is being balanced out by the massively improved quality - or something else."

The report, written by ASI Head of Policy Ben Southwood, finds that the Football Association's plan to crack down on foreign players in the Premier League would damage the league’s quality and success in European club competitions, without any benefit to the English national team’s performance.

Read the full report: “Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football"

Press Release: Foreign player crackdown would do nothing to help England team

A new report released today by the Adam Smith Institute blasts the FA's proposals to crack down on foreign players, finding:

• No link between native play time in the Premier League and performance of English national team
• No link between amount of minutes played by Englishmen ten years ago and performance today
• A strong link between foreign players and Premier League quality

The FA's plan to crack down on foreign players in the Premier League would damage the league's quality and success in European club competitions, without any benefit to the English national team's performance, according to a new study from the Adam Smith Institute, an economic think tank.

In the first research of its kind, there was no link found between the time English players get on the pitch and the performance of the national team.

The report, "Sweet FA - Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football", found this to be true for performance measured in FIFA points, world ranking, or placing at major championships—i.e. the World Cup and European Championship. This also goes for the other major leagues in Europe—Spain's La Liga, Germany's Bundesliga, and Italy's Serie A.

The report also rejected as baseless the claim that a reduced amount of playing time for English players five or ten years prior affected English international performance.

But the report did find evidence of a strong link between a league's UEFA coefficient and the prevalence of foreign players—leagues with more non-natives are stronger, and stronger leagues have more non-natives.

This suggests that Greg Dyke's scheme to tighten up work permit rules for foreign (or just non-EU) players would harm the English Premier League—the world's most popular and successful league—without any concomitant benefit to the English national team.

Paper author Ben Southwood, Head of Policy at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

"It is widely believed that England's perceived underperformance at recent international competitions owes something to the reduced fraction of minutes English players are playing in the Premier League—but up until now no one's really studied the question with any kind of rigour.

"My numbers are not final but they suggest there is no real link between the amount of football English players play in the Premier League (or across the top four European Leagues) and English international performance.

"If the reduced quantity of experience is a problem, then it is being balanced out by the massively improved quality—or something else".

Read the full report here.

Contact Communications Manager, Kate Andrews, for further comments or to arrange an interview: kate@adamsmith.org | 07584 778207

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.

Press release: German contraction shows European Central Bank must act

Commenting on Germany's shock 0.2% economic contraction, Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, said: "Germany's contraction might be a wake-up call to the European Central Bank (ECB) that it is driving Europe's economies into the ground. If it forces the ECB to finally ease policy, it may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

"Tight money is almost entirely to blame for the Eurozone's current problems: as the rest of the world has slowly recovered from the Great Recession with relatively accommodative monetary policy, Europe has sunk back into deep recession.

"Inflation in the Eurozone has been dangerously low over the past six years. The ECB has a mandate to target 2% inflation, which it has consistently failed to reach in recent years. The result has been a 'musical chairs' problem where there is not enough money circulating in the Eurozone to match people's wage demands. The result has been unprecedentedly high unemployment in many Eurozone countries.

"Once, economists warned that Europe faced a Japan-style 'lost decade' of unemployment and economic stagnation. That now seems like wishful thinking: because the ECB has kept money so tight and so much wealth has been lost, the Eurozone is likely to be in extremely bad shape for many years to come.

"If the ECB was really willing to do 'whatever it takes' to reach its inflation target, including quantitative easing, it could bring the Eurozone back to growth. The Eurozone has needed easier money for years now; now that Germany does too, it may finally see it."

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778207.

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's comments on Scotland's currency debate are featured in City AM

The Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, was quoted in a City AM article that highlighted a poll that found the majority of Scots think an independent Scotland should keep the pound.

If an independent Scotland decided to keep the pound it could follow the example of countries such as Ecuador and Panama, which use the US dollar.

Indeed, as the research director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, points out:

An independent Scotland could flourish either by using the pound sterling without the permission of the UK (or by setting up a “ScotPound” pegged to sterling through a currency board, which would achieve a similar end). This ‘sterlingization’ would emulate a number of Latin American countries that use the US Dollar without an official agreement with the US government.

Read the full article here.

Dr Eamonn Butler is quoted in The Federalist - The BBC Is A Cross Between PBS And The IRS

The Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, was interviewed and featured in an article for The Federalist on draconian nature of the BBC.

Of the 180,000 people prosecuted in 2012 for not paying the license fee, two-thirds were women. Those prosecuted are usually poor. “The people who find it most difficult to pay the license fee are people in poor families and single mothers. Of all the people who get prosecuted for not paying the fine, they’re almost all single parents. That cannot be right,” says Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, a free-market think tank in London.

Read the full article here.

Director of TEN writes for City AM - It’s time to start talking about the British dream

The Director of the Entrepreneur's Network, Philip Salter, wrote an op-ed for City AM which highlights the need for British business and immigration policy to reflect young people's drive towards entrepreneurship.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP is all the rage. Research released today by HSBC shows that nearly a quarter of young people starting university this autumn want to work for themselves when they graduate. Banker, lawyer and consultant are no longer the default options.

This news won’t please everyone. Due to the conspicuous wealth of Silicon Valley’s have-yachts and other cultural biases, entrepreneurship is often crudely misrepresented as solely a private good. However, successful entrepreneurs will go on to employ thousands of people and provide goods and services that make all our lives better in a trillion different ways. Even failed entrepreneurs provide feedback for other business founders about what will and won’t work.

Read the full op-ed here.

Dr Eamonn Butler's Letter to The Herald: Post-Yes, an informal currency union should be plan A, not B

The Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, wrote a letter to The Herald arguing that if Scotland votes for independence, there is nothing to stop them from continuing to use the pound:

I HAVE no wish to argue for or against independence, but as an economist I would like to separate the economic realities of the currency issue from the political bluster that obscures them.

The Chancellor has ruled out a formal currency union, though some say this is just negotiating bluff. Either way, there is nothing to stop Scots continuing to use the pound if they choose. A Westminster government with no jurisdiction over an independent Scotland has no power to stop them.

Several independent countries, including Panama, use the US dollar, without seeking the permission of America's central bank, the Federal Reserve. In the absence of a formal currency union agreement, Panama has no say in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, which is conducted solely for the benefit of America. Some argue, by analogy, that if an independent Scotland continued using the pound without a formal currency union, Scotland would have no say in Bank of England policy, which could be potentially damaging for Scotland's economy.

Nevertheless, as a result of using the dollar, Panama - a country comparable in population to Scotland - has one of the world's most stable banking sectors. And the economic interdependence between Scotland and the other countries of the present United Kingdom is so deep that the Bank of England would, in reality, have to take Scotland's welfare into account when setting monetary policy. Not to do so would risk damaging the other UK countries just as much as Scotland.

Another suggestion, from Jim Sillars, is that Scotland should print its own currency and tie it to the pound. There is no substantive difference between this idea and using the pound. As the two are pegged, the only difference is the design on the currency. And why (apart from national pride) go to the expense of printing Scottish notes, exactly equivalent to the pound - but which people south of the Border might be reluctant to accept?

The other option, switching to some other currency such as the euro, would be even more costly and difficult, and would raise huge, business-damaging uncertainties. It would also leave Scotland subject to the monetary policy of a country or agency with a very distant interest, if any, in Scotland's welfare.

The easiest solution, therefore, would be for Scotland to continue using the pound, with or without a currency union, safe in the knowledge that, as an important part of the sterling economy, the Bank of England would have to take Scotland's interests into full account when setting policy. The currency problem just isn't a problem.

Eamonn Butler,

Director, Adam Smith Institute,

23 Great Smith Street,

London.