The Kiwi Effect

New Zealand has been rated the world's most free economy by The Economist due to reforms initiated by the Labour government. The old Crown departments have been split into their policy, regulatory, service-delivery and commercial functions. The government has also become the first to adopt the same kind of rigorous accounting standards that are demanded of commercial firms - every new policy must be subjected to long range and analysis of its costs and impact. Having seen New Zealand as the world's laboratory for public sector reform, there is much we could learn from the Kiwi effect.

Read it here.

Hunting of the Quango

Britain's ace quango-hunter stalks his costly quarry once again. He reviews the history and growth of quangos and the departments with the worst record in harbouring them. Then he proposes sunset legislation by which quangos would face automatic extinction after a few years, and ne disclosure rules for the quangurus. Despite being written over 10 years ago it's still relevant to the debate on quangos today. Especially in light of the governments over reliance on them and the ceaseless expansion of both their numbers and their size.

Read the whole paper here.

20-20 Vision

20–20 Vision sets out a clear and coherent set of goals, and constitutes a radical agenda for innovation and reform. Written in 1994 it puts forth one hundred indicative targets that are viable for Britain to achieve over the next 25 years. It covers a wide range of subjects that cover the fabric of British society. Examples of the targets are: nursery education for three and four year–olds; top rate of tax of 20% and a basic rate of 10%; trains will link cities at speeds in excess of 200mph; the "tagging" of persistent offenders; renovation of housing stock making them energy sufficient and noise insulated; zero pollution for city transport and industry; the whole population to be in Health Maintenance Organisations; the NHS more doctor–based and more local; more private provision replacing state benefits. This report draws on the work of more than 25 contributors. The emphasis throughout is on private funding, voluntary effort and free enterprise, rather than on public money.

Read the full report.

The Amnesia of Reform

A review of post-Communist privatization. The authors find that the purpose of economic reform and privatization had been forgotten nor deliberately ignored in post-Communist countries. Firms were privatized in an unreconstructed and shoddy state, shareholders have no power, monopolies are protected, conflicts between ministries continued. The authors demanded that UK policy change to ensure effective reforms, they outlines new ways to overcome the problems and make privatization popular and beneficial.

Read the full report.

Blueprint for a Revolution

A complete guide through the theory, strategy, and record of rolling back the state in the UK - privatization, internal markets in health education, making executive agencies more independent, and the Citizen's Charter.

Read the whole paper here.

A Country at Ease with Itself

It is customary for those in public life who set out their ideas to sensationalize their work with overblown claims about its urgency. Thus we are usually told that "Britain stands at the crossroads," and that critical choices have to be made which will determine the entire future of the nation. Such claims serve to underline the dire warnings of the writer, to alarm people that we face some sort of "crisis," and to suggest that only prompt action based on those selfsame insights can avert the impending catastrophe. I make no such claims. Britain stands at no crossroads except in the trivial sense that every present is a crossroads where the past meets the future. I do not believe that this nation is in crisis or that only the immediate adoption of urgent remedies can save it. On the contrary, I believe that Britain is well on course, and is in the process of making a seamless transition from the policies which succeeded in the 180s to those which will succeed in the 1990s.

Thus my purpose is not an attempt to sound the alert to some impending emergency, however much interest such drama would add to my words. It is rather to show how the principles which enabled us to solve many of the problems of the last decade can develop the policies we need to tackle the different priorities which the current decade presents.

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The Citizens' Charter

In this paper Dr. Madsen Pirie discusses the differences between public and private sector ownership, and the overarching benefits of private ownership for the consumer.  

Read the full paper. 

Empowerment

In Empowerment Dr Madsen Pirie, Graham Mather, David Freeman, John Willman and Christopher Monckton talks about how privatization was the key theme of the 1980's and how if successfully engineered empowerment as a policy innovation could become the key theme of the 1990's.

Read the full paper. 

A Decade of Revolution: The Thatcher Years

The writers of this work examine many of the aspects in which a transformation has been achieved. The story which they collectively tell is one of a revolution: but not of a revolution complete, rather that of a revolution which is continuing. Many of them, while detailing the results already achieved, point to further progress which could be made. Thus, at the end of the first ten years of the Thatcher administration, the story they tell is one of achievement and success which continues, and for which the need continues.

You can read the full paper here.

The Burning Question

Written by Michael Simmonds for The Adam Smith Institute and published in 1989, The Burning Question discusses the future of the fire service in Britain. 

You can read it here.