By: Paul Ormerod

Paul Ormerod is an economist at Volterra Partners LLP, author and an Honorary Professor at the Alliance Business School at the University of Manchester

All 173 Articles

Universities follow perverse incentive models out of touch with the labour market

July 6, 2022

THE days tick by to the summer ritual of the announcement of A-level results. Yet panic is already spreading among those wanting to start university in the autumn. The number of applicants has risen by 5 per cent this year, according to the university admissions service (UCAS). In addition, many universities are cutting back the [...]
Central banks have fooled themselves into thinking they have power over inflation

June 29, 2022

If we look under the bonnet of central banks, we find a debate which is almost theological in its nature.
We’re not reliving the 1970s yet, but today’s decisions will keep us out or drag us back

June 22, 2022

In the current wave of discontent, rail unions, along with teachers, NHS and other public sector unions, are asking for increases which match inflation. They are still, just about, in single figures and a long way from the 20 per cent-plus of 1975. But only eighteen months previously, at the end of 1973, inflation had still been in high single figures.
Scotland needs to abandon its dream world and realise what independence truly means

June 15, 2022

Nicola Sturgeon has relaunched her bid for Scottish Independence.
A windfall tax raised by a money-hungry government will scare off our businesses

June 8, 2022

Rishi Sunak’s windfall tax on energy firms – what he called a “temporary targeted profits levy” – has gone down well with voters. The tax makes it look like money is raised from someone else and given to them through subsidies to their bills. Despite claims that the tax will yield an additional £5bn in [...]
As Johnson squirms, his party must remember the roots of Conservatives values

June 1, 2022

Boris Johnson has strayed very far from Conservative ideals
Many lessons can be learned from drink driving and smoking laws to tackle obesity

May 25, 2022

Obesity has been a hot topic over the past week. The government announced it would delay its plan to implement restrictions on junk food marketing and volume-based price promotions. These had been presented as key elements in the strategy to reduce obesity. With a timing which was either impeccable or pure good luck, the Cancer [...]
As we resume our life back to normal, the costs of lockdowns become painfully clear

May 11, 2022

The enormous costs of a policy of strict lockdowns – identified and predicted by many economists in the summer of 2020 – are now becoming obvious. As our memory of them starts to fade away, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is still tracking vital Covid-19 data. The WHO provides estimates of the excess deaths due [...]
Sprinkling local football clubs with money won’t make them sustainable endeavours

May 4, 2022

The domestic football season has come to a dramatic close, with two sides from the North West jostling for the title and four London teams competing frantically for the coveted spots in Europe. Since its inception, clubs from these two areas have dominated the Premiership, especially over the past twenty years. Perhaps it is something [...]
We need to stop comforting ourselves with the myth of the all-powerful central bank

April 27, 2022

Inflation continues to be a major problem for policy makers. The annual rate of price increases hit 7 per cent last month and could be in double figures later this year. This projection is far from being a fantasy. On some measures, annual inflation in America is already over 10 per cent. Rather bizarrely, the [...]

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Premiership run-in: Saints and Bath will impact top four

Here We Are, National Theatre, review: Stephen Sondheim musical is more Severance than sing-a-long

By: Paul Ormerod

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