Blog Editor

We released a report today, Market-based bank regulation: Creating incentives that promote responsible banking, which argues that a market-based alternative to orthodox bank regulation should be adopted to promote responsible decision-making behaviour by banks. The paper looks at the historical example of 19th Century American banks, where executives and shareholders faced liability for twice the value of their shareholdings.

Madsen's "Think Tank - the story of the Adam Smith Institute" continues to attract comment.  The Guardian has just featured a review by Steven Poole, sandwiching Madsen (as he points out with delight) half way between intellectuals and gin!

Today we release our latest policy paper, "Mind Your Own Business!". Elaine Sternberg, the paper's author, argues that high executive pay is not a "market failure" as some politicians have claimed, but a natural and perfectly reasonable function of a well-run firm. Shareholder power is critically important, but where problems have arisen it is because of government meddling in corporate governance. She outlines some of her arguments in today's City AM:

• Tax Freedom Day falls two days later in 2012 as UK re-enters recession
• Austerity measures cut the Cost of Government Day back to 23rd June, seven days earlier than in 2011

The UK's Tax Freedom Day – the day when Britons stop working for the Chancellor and start working for themselves – falls today, 29th of May.

Eamonn Butler discusses the morality of taxation, which he wrote about for the Taxpayers' Alliance's excellent new report, The Single Income Tax.