NEWS
Press Release: UK should back Greek NGDP-linked debt restructuring plan
For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Communications Manager Kate Andrews: kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778207
The European Central Bank's job is to ensure nominal stability in the Eurozone economy. The ECB should not bail out governments and banks.
Unfortunately again and again over the past six years the ECB has been forced to bail out Eurozone states. Hence, the ECB has repeatedly conducted credit policy (rather than monetary policy) to avoid Eurozone countries defaulting.
The ECB itself is largely to blame for this because it has kept monetary conditions far too tight. However, it has been under tremendous pressure to bail out nations and banks rather than conduct sound monetary policies.
By linking Greece's EU and ECB debts to Greek nominal GDP, as Varoufakis has suggested, Greece's public finances would be less vulnerable to monetary policy failure in the Eurozone.
The Chancellor George Osborne should be an enthusiastic supporter of Varoufakis’s debt plan as it would cut the cost of the ECB's tight money policies and reduce the danger of another major Eurozone crisis.
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.
Kate Andrews argues against prioritising public funding for libraries on BBC Radio Wales
Communications Manager at the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, argued that public funding should not be prioritised for libraries and that more support should be provided to get people access to the internet on BBC Radio Wales. Listen to the interview here. (Starts 02:48:00)
Ben Southwood criticises limits on cheap steel imports to the UK in CityAM
Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, criticised calls for limits on cheap steel imports to the UK in CityAM.
However, critics of intervention voiced their disagreement. “Like a drop in the oil price, it [a low steel price] can hurt some industries, but, like a drop in the oil price, it is an overall benefit to society,” Ben Southwood, head of research at the Adam Smith Institute, told City A.M.
Kate Andrews explains how welfare schemes often benefit the rich on BBC Radio Tees
Communications Manager at the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, explains how the UK's current welfare structures often serve to benefit the wealthy on BBC Radio Tees. Listen to the interview here. (Starts 51:04)
Kate Andrews discusses Stuart Broad's tweet and the minimum wage on BBC Radio Merseyside
Communications Manager at the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, discussed Stuart Broad's tweet concerning UK minimum wage and how it relates to global poverty on BBC Radio Merseyside. Listen to the interview here. (Starts 01:20:56)
Dr Eamonn Butler discusses the minimum wage and global poverty on BBC Radio 5 Live
Director of the Adam Smith Institute Dr Eamonn Butler discusses Stuart Broad's minimum wage tweet and global poverty on BBC Radio 5 Live. Listen to the full interview here. (Starts 9:28)
A British basic income? Green leader Natalie Bennett is a bad advocate of a good improvement to the welfare system - Sam Bowman writes for the International Business Times
Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute Sam Bowman makes the argument for a British basic income in The International Business Times:
As most people laughed at Natalie Bennett's car-crash interview with Andrew Neil this weekend, in which the Green Party leader appeared to have no grasp of any of the numbers behind her policies, a few unlikely viewers were wincing.
Her craziest-sounding policy, to give a "basic income" of £72 a week to everyone in the country regardless of income at a cost of £280bn to the Exchequer, has some surprising supporters on the free market right.
Many free marketeers, including Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, favour a form of welfare known as a "Negative Income Tax". This would replace existing benefits aimed at alleviating poverty like tax credits and jobseekers allowance with a single automatic payment that is tapered off according to earnings.
Sam Bowman argues against CPRE's latest Green Belt report on BBC Radio Surrey
Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute Sam Bowman argued against CPRE's latest report on the Green Belt on BBC Radio Surrey, and highlighted just how little Green Belt land would be needed to address London's housing crisis over the next decade. Listen to the interview here. (Starts 02:10:05)
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.'
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."
Media contact:
emily@adamsmith.org
Media phone: 07584778207
Archive
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- January 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007