The Adam Smith Institute's Communications Manager, Kate Andrews, appeared on Sky News to discuss the US midterm elections and campaign financing.
Press Release: New report proves that immigration is vital to the wealth of the nation
Commenting on the UCL's Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration's new report "Fiscal Effects of Immigration to the UK", Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, said:
This report shows that immigration from the European Union (and other EEA countries) is extremely good for the UK. Since EEA immigrants pay more in tax than they use in services, they are not a burden on the welfare state – in fact they are helping to prop it up. Opening the UK up to Eastern European immigration was one of the best things the last Labour government did. Restricting EU immigration now would mean higher taxes for Britons and is a very bad idea.Immigrants’ fiscal contribution is only a small part of the story, though. By bringing new skills to the UK and allowing for a deeper division of labour, immigration boosts Britons’ productivity and wages. And the evidence shows that immigrants are more entrepreneurial on average, so they create jobs by setting up new businesses.
On the other hand, non-EEA immigrants were a large net cost to the Exchequer over the 1995-2011 period studied. This is partially because non-EEA immigrants tend to have more children on average than EEA immigrants and partially because the data includes immigrants who had at this point retired. In both cases the immigrants’ lifetime net cost is likely to be much lower than the data suggest. However, to increase non-EEA immigrants’ fiscal contribution we should make it much easier for skilled workers to immigrate to the UK. That would help the British economy by allowing British firms to hire the best talent available, and help to subsidise the welfare state by importing the best taxpayers the world has to offer.
Notes to editors:
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.
Charlotte Bowyer highlights the failures of UK drug laws on Sky News
The Adam Smith Institute's Head of Digital Policy, Charlotte Bowyer, argues that UK drug laws have failed and that decriminalisation and legalisation policies need to be considered on Sky News.
Ben Southwood exposes the myths around Equal Pay Day on BBC radio Newcastle
Head of Policy at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, speaks to BBC radio Newcastle about the faulty statistics that fuel Equal Pay Day. Listen to the interview here. (Starts 01:55:05)
UK drug policy is decades out of date – Charlotte Bowyer writes for CityAM
Head of Digital Policy for the Adam Smith Institute, Charlotte Bowyer, explains how UK drug policy has failed in CityAM.
After months of delays and political squabbles, the Home Office yesterday released its survey of international approaches to drug control. Examining the policies of 13 countries around the world, it failed to find “any obvious relationship between the toughness of a country’s enforcement against drug possession, and levels of drug use in that country”.
The report’s conclusions are at odds with 40 years of government policy, which centres upon the belief that harsh criminal penalties deter the (mis)use of drugs. It must have made for uncomfortable reading.
Read the full article here.
Inequality Is Not the Fed’s Priority - ASI Senior Fellow writes for the New York Times
Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, Tim Worstall, contributes to the Room for Debate, NYTimes Opinion Pages.
There's very little in the monetary toolbox of a central banker that can affect inequality. True, quantitative easing and low interest rates are great for those who own assets, as they can soar in value. But the Fed is doing that to try to stop the economy from worsening, which would be bad for rich and poor alike. The impact on inequality is a very second, even third, order effect. Other than that, there's not really a great deal that the Fed can do about it.
Read the full article here.
ASI report "The Trading Dead" is featured in Fox Business news article
The Adam Smith Institute's report "The Trading Dead: The zombie firms plaguing Britain’s economy, and what to do about them" was featured in a Fox Business news article.
The corporate zombie debate is on fire in the U.K., with 108,000 bankrupt firms still operating in Great Britain due to easy money, barely earning enough to pay the carrying costs on their loans, estimates the Adam Smith Institute, a free-market research shop.
It argues banks should quit giving money to the corporate undead, because it distracts funding away from healthier companies that can create jobs. Instead, it says these companies should be put to rest or restructured, to clear the way for more innovative companies.
"Low interest rates and bank forbearance represent a vast and badly targeted attempt to avoid dealing with the recession,” said Tom Papworth, senior fellow of the institute. “Rather than solving our current crisis, they risk dooming the U.K. to a decade of stagnation."
Papworth added: "We tend to see zombies as slow-moving and faintly laughable works of fiction. Economically, zombies are quite real and hugely damaging, and governments and entrepreneurs cannot simply walk away."
Read the full article here.
As QE ends in the US, has it changed the world for the better? Sam Bowman says yes in the CityAM Forum debate
Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, took part in the CityAM Forum debate, arguing that QE helped avoid another Great Depression.
Many people, including me, expected QE to cause uncontrollable inflation and end in disaster. How wrong we were.
The US and the UK, which did QE, are growing healthily. The Eurozone, which didn’t, is in ruins.
QE helps to keep nominal spending steady during recessions, allowing the real economy to reallocate resources as normal without risking the sort of deflation that can cause mass unemployment, which Milton Friedman showed was the cause of the Great Depression.
Read the full article here.
Author of ASI report "Wind Farms Reassessed" speaks to BBC radio Cambridgeshire and BBC radio Wales
Dr Capell Aris, author of new ASI report “Wind Power Reassessed: A review of the UK wind resource for electricity generation” speaks to BBC radio Cambridgeshire and debates David Clubb on BBC radio Wales about the details of the report. The report, published jointly by the Adam Smith Institute and the Scientific Alliance, severely undermines the case for a move towards more wind generation in the UK because it suggests that wind can never be a major reliable source of energy for the UK. Specifically, the report found that wind farms generate below 20% of their supposed output for 29 weeks a year, and only exceed 90% of their rated output for 17 hours a year.
Listen to Dr Aris on BBC radio Cambridgeshire here:
Listen to Dr Aris on BBC radio Wales here:
Sam Bowman argues for rolling back the green belt on BBC radio Surrey
The Adam Smith Institute's Research Director, Sam Bowman, spoke to BBC radio Surrey's breakfast show about the benefits of rolling back the green belt in Surrey to make room for more houses. Listen here. (Starts 02:10:57)