Ben Southwood's comments on eurozone QE feature in The Mail Online

Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, was quoted in The Mail Online on the eurozone's decision to print €60 billion a month to fight deflation.

Ben Southwood, head of research at thinktank the Adam Smith Institute, said: 'Quantitative easing cannot solve many problems, but there is precisely one it can tackle—deflation brought about by central bank incompetence, like that we are now seeing across the eurozone. That was what caused the Great Depression in the 1930s and easier money can reverse it.

'What's more, the structural problems economists have identified in Europe are very real. Even before the crisis, countries like Italy and France were hamstrung by tight labour market regulations that kept unemployment close to 10 per cent. Changing these can enhance growth in the short and long run, and QE should be combined with rigorous reform so that long-term growth can be achieved.'

Read the full article here.

Ben Southwood's comments on wind power feature in The Yorkshire Post

Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, was quoted by The Yorkshire Post on the realities of wind farm power and productivity:

OFFSHORE WIND continues to have many critics. The Adam Smith Institute said: "It can never be a major part of our energy mix, the wind just doesn't blow enough.

"Since we don't have heap, effective ways of storing energy, more reliance on wind means increasingly starting up and closing down fossil fuel plants to back up intermittent and unreliable towers to guarantee supply."

As the EU contemplates imposing a tax on US internet firms, is this a step backwards? - Charlotte Bowyer argues yes, in the CityAM Forum

Head of Digital Policy at the Adam Smith Institute, Charlotte Bowyer, argues that imposing a tax on US internet firms would be destructive to the revenue and innovation of digital firms in the CityAM Forum:

Europe is lagging far behind the US in terms of digital innovation. The US’s technology policy champions experimentation and risk, with the presumption that entrepreneurs should be able to try new things without first seeking permission.

In Europe, the opposite is the case. The proportion of people engaged in entrepreneurial activity is also far lower, and even successful startups tend to be smaller and slower-growing. If the EU is serious about challenging America’s tech dominance, it should cut red tape and taxes, resist the urge to regulate more, and champion entrepreneurship.

Clobbering successful foreign firms that contribute billions to Europe’s economy may raise revenue, but it will do nothing to address countries’ underlying uncompetitiveness. And while some digital firms may be able to handle a higher tax bill, it’s hard to see why they’d put up with such a petulant host. The EU’s politics of envy isn’t just ugly – it’s destructive too.

Read the full article here.

Press Release: Eurozone QE is welcome, but governments must reform too

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Communications Manager Kate Andrews: kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778207 Commenting in advance of the ECB's quantitative easing package expected today, Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, said:

Finally! The European Central Bank has started to acknowledge its responsibility for the catastrophic depression in Greece, and the hardship in Spain, Portugal and Italy. It has kept money far too tight for far too long.

Quantitative easing cannot solve many problems, but there is precisely one it can tackle—deflation brought about by central bank incompetence, like that we are now seeing across the Eurozone. That was what caused the Great Depression in the 1930s and easier money can reverse it.

But there are reasons to be sceptical: temporary QE that is not tied to a commitment to achieve a target (such as the ECB's 2% consumer price inflation goal) has sometimes turned out to be 'pushing on a string'. Without being tied to a clear goal, QE can fail.

What's more, the structural problems economists have identified in Europe are very real. Even before the crisis, countries like Italy and France were hamstrung by tight labour market regulations that kept unemployment close to 10%. Changing these can enhance growth in the short and long run, and QE should be combined with rigorous reform so that long-term growth can be achieved.

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.

Dr Eamonn Butler debates UK milk prices and farming subsidies on BBC Radio 5 Live

Dr Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, debates UK milk prices and farming subsidies on BBC Radio 5 Live. Listen to the interview here. (Starts 02:20:40)

Letter from Dr Eamonn Butler on Oxfam's inequality report features in The Daily Telegraph

Dr Eamonn Butler's Letter of the Editor of The Daily Telegraph explains the problems with Oxfam's latest inequality report, highlighting that, in fact, the world has become more equal in the last 15 years.

SIR -

The figures released by Oxfam (“Top one per cent ‘richer than rest of world’, Oxfam says”, report, telegraph.co.uk, January 19) are misleading. The world is in fact getting richer, and the world’s poorest are getting richer twice as fast as the world’s richest. The proportion of the world’s population living on less than $2 (£1.30) a day fell from just under 70 per cent in 1981 to 43 per cent in 2008. There is greater equality now than 15 years ago.

And the reason? Capitalism. Decades of handouts from rich countries have not made the poor richer. People in India and China – and increasingly parts of Africa – are better off because they have launched themselves into the world trading economy. Economic freedom and growth are finally combating poverty.

Sensationalist figures do a disservice to those of us who want to understand and defeat world poverty.

Dr Eamonn Butler
Director, Adam Smith Institute
London SW1

Ben Southwood debates UK inequality on BBC Radio 4

Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, debated UK inequality with Jacques Peretti and answered questions from callers on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours. Listen to the interview here.

Kate Andrews' comments on British feminism feature in Breitbart London

Communications Manager at the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, was quoted in Breitbart London on the state and goals of radical feminism:

Too many modern feminists cite incorrect pay gap figures and demonise male employers in their weak attempt to prove that workplace sexism is alive and thriving in Britain. But this is simply not the case.

British women in full-time work between the ages of 22-39 are now paid, on average, 1.1% more than their male counterparts; it is not inherit sexism that is holding women back from greater achievement, but rather the traditional roles that society still demands of women – expecting them to be mothers and wives regardless of their career ambitions, while providing little support along the way.

The arbitrary demands made by feminists for shortlists, quotas and for salaries to be made public result in gender-baiting at its worst, and do nothing to address the real roots of sexism that still have grips in British society.

Employers seem to be giving women an equal and fair shot at having a career; now is the time to turn to our attention to the private sphere, where women need to be supported and treated fairly, regardless of their career decisions.

Read the full article here.

Dr Eamonn Butler's comments on milk industry subsidies feature in BBC News article

Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, was quoted in a BBC News article on milk industry subsidies:

But Eamonn Butler, from free market think tank the Adam Smith Institute, said the industry was in need of modernisation.

"If you simply subsidise this industry, then all that happens is that older, outdated practices continue and new efficient practices don't get a start," he said.

"That's very bad for everybody - it's bad for taxpayers and it's bad for consumers."

Read the full article here.

ASI comments on Oxfam's inequality report feature in The Daily Telegraph

The Adam Smith Institute's comments on Oxfam's inequality report were referenced in Allister Heath's article in The Daily Telegraph:

Absurd? Of course, but that is the methodology used in most reports on global wealth inequality. As the Adam Smith Institute points out, it makes no sense to look at net wealth without also examining the incomes people are likely to earn in future from wages, investments and pensions. The shock and oft-cited statistics about the share of total wealth owned by the richest are based on such misleading net wealth figures. If gross wealth were used, or if adjustments were made for disposable income and living standards, the picture would look significantly less unequal. The bottom 80pc may statistically own just 5.5pc of the world’s net wealth, but that is because they have mortgages. They control far more of the world’s assets than such numbers suggest.

Read the full article here.