The Debate on Bus Deregulation

Dr Hibbs argues for constraints upon the 'twin evils' that might be expected to arise in an unregulated market - the fly-by-night operator seeking a quick profit, and the large undertaking 'competing to kill' and thus stifling initiative and innovation, but adds the proviso that it might be possible to dismantle even these constraints after a period of adjustment.   

Read the full report.

Omega Report - Expenditure and Taxation Policy

The Adam Smith Institute's Omega Project was conceived to fill a significant gap in the field of public policy research. Administrations entering office in democratic societies are often aware of the problem which they face, but lack a well-developed range of policy options. The process by which policy innovations are brought forward are examined is often wasteful of time, and unconducive to creative thought. 

The Omega Project was designed to create and develop new policy initiatives, to research and analyze these new ideas, and to bring them forward for public discussion in ways which overcame the conventional shortcomings. 

The themes of this Omega Report are expenditure and taxation.

Read the report here.

Privatization in Theory and Practice

Foreword by Dr Eamonn Butler

This report represents the most comprehensive review so far of the remarkably extensive replacement of state activities by private-sector alternatives that has occurred in recent years. But its main strength is not merely its listing of the countless examples of where private involvement - with its associated benefits of consumer choice and the stimulus of competition - has been introduced into areas once thought to be the sole prerogative of the state. Its principal contribution is to collate that wide experience into a unifying theoretical framework which helps us to identify and to understand the strategy and tactics of privatization.

The author explains that privatization arose not as a conscious strategy but as an approach to practical problems for a government that originally supposed budgetary restraints and the excision of waste to be its main policy tools. Such macropolitical ideas, says Dr Pirie, are doomed to failure: insensitive cuts remove vital services instead of administrative beneficiaries of existing programmes, and from the service providers themselves all combine to make the political obstacles overpowering. The privatization strategy, on the other hand, is techniques to each specific problem, making provision for the concerns of each interest group as it transfers activities from the public to the private sector. It is an approach which produces creative and innovative solutions to each problem, not a single solution that is imposed on each case. 

From the wide range of innovative solutions that have been tested, Dr Pirie makes and impressive identification of twenty-two different techniques of privatization, and shows in the form of practical examples the numerous variations that have occurred upon each theme. The result is to clarify our thinking on what the strategy of privatization involves, the purposes and range of benefits it is expected to achieve, and how future problems might be tackled by its use. 

Read the first 60 pages here and the last 30 pages here

Economic Regeneration Through Banking Reform

It has been the commonly held view since at least the second world war that the way to bring about economic growth in the poorer parts of Britain was through government intervention; through negative measures such as industrial development certificates, and through positive measures such as subsidies, grants, and cheap loans. Equally, it has been commonly argued that the way to generate growth in general is through increased government spending, financed as often as not through inflation of the money supply. Both views have become progressively more difficult to sustain in the light of actual experience, of deprived areas remaining so despite the aid they receive (while the areas financing regional aid themsleves decline), and of periodic bouts of inflation creating transient growth at the cost of long-term depression and unemployment.

But, if failure is the predominant feature of post war policy the example of an earlier period might well indicate the way towards a more prosperous future. Between 1750 and 1844, Soctland raised its standard of living from half that of England to somewhere near parity and did it without government activity, interference, or control. The engine behind that remarkable record of growth was a banking system free of all but the most minimal restrictions and isolated from the activities of any central bank.

At a time when legislation is promised to complete the amalgamation of the Trustee Savings Bank Movement into a new national joint-stock bank, when the Royal Bank of Scotland is integrating its operations with its English affiliate, Williams and Glyns, and when non-banking financial institutions such as building societies are increasingly offering banking-type services, it would seem appropriate for a radical review of the regime within which British banks have to operate and the consequences that regime has created for their customers.

Read it here.

Omega Report - Transport Policy

The Adam Smith Institute's Omega Project was conceived to fill a significant gap in the field of public policy research. Administrations entering office in democratic societies are often aware of the problem which they face, but lack a well-developed range of policy options. The process by which policy innovations are brought forward are examined is often wasteful of time, and unconducive to creative thought. 

The Omega Project was designed to create and develop new policy initiatives, to research and analyze these new ideas, and to bring them forward for public discussion in ways which overcame the conventional shortcomings. 

The theme of this Omega Report is transport.

Read the report here.

Omega Report - Trade Policy

The Adam Smith Institute's Omega Project was conceived to fill a significant gap in the field of public policy research. Administrations entering office in democratic societies are often aware of the problem which they face, but lack a well-developed range of policy options. The process by which policy innovations are brought forward are examined is often wasteful of time, and unconducive to creative thought. 

The Omega Project was designed to create and develop new policy initiatives, to research and analyze these new ideas, and to bring them forward for public discussion in ways which overcame the conventional shortcomings. 

The theme of this Omega Report is trade.

Read the report here.

Omega Report - Social Security Policy

The Adam Smith Institute's Omega Project was conceived to fill a significant gap in the field of public policy research. Administrations entering office in democratic societies are often aware of the problem which they face, but lack a well-developed range of policy options. The process by which policy innovations are brought forward are examined is often wasteful of time, and unconducive to creative thought. 

The Omega Project was designed to create and develop new policy initiatives, to research and analyze these new ideas, and to bring them forward for public discussion in ways which overcame the conventional shortcomings. 

The theme of this Omega Report is social security.

Read the report here.

Airports for Sale

An in depth look at the options available for the process of privatizing Britain's airports. Taking into consideration the present thinking (of the mid 1980s) surrounding privitization Dr Barrett outlines how it could be applied to airports and the benefits that it would bring. He also outlines how it could be improved with a variety of differing policy ideas.

Read the full report.

Omega Report - Employment Policy

The Adam Smith Institute's Omega Project was conceived to fill a significant gap in the field of public policy research. Administrations entering office in democratic societies are often aware of the problem which they face, but lack a well-developed range of policy options. The process by which policy innovations are brought forward are examined is often wasteful of time, and unconducive to creative thought. 

The Omega Project was designed to create and develop new policy initiatives, to research and analyze these new ideas, and to bring them forward for public discussion in ways which overcame the conventional shortcomings. 

The theme of this Omega Report is employment.

Read it here.