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

Think petrol panic buying was bad? Wait til you see what’s (not) in store this Christmas

November 24, 2021

It is that time of year again: ice skating, cold, clear blue skies, fairy lights decorating Oxford Street, and fears about having enough Christmas toys on the shelves. There are two key themes to this year’s scare stories. First, supply problems could lead to a deluge of children missing out on the most popular toys. [...]
New winter Covid restrictions would make it official policy to pray for a better day

November 17, 2021

A trip to the Scottish Highlands is always refreshing. Despite the shortening days, the hills were in perfect late autumn condition. It clears your mind and helps you reflect on what’s not working. This time around, it was more interesting than usual: it illuminated the stark contradictions and hypocrisy of the current Covid regulations, administered [...]
Britons squeamish to spend their savings are jeopardising our economic recovery

November 10, 2021

The economic recovery is under threat. British consumers are saving and not spending. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that during lockdown, households accumulated a massive £180bn of so-called “excess savings”. Earlier in the year, most economic forecasts assumed that these would be run down. Lockdown had constrained people’s normal behaviour and with the [...]
In the end, the Swedes really did have the last laugh with a relaxed Covid approach

October 27, 2021

They never give up. The finger waggers who know what is good for the rest of us; the epidemiologists trying to intimidate us with their seemingly terrifying but actually rather trivial models of applied mathematics. The vested interests in the NHS creating excuses for the inefficiencies inherent in the system. If we already have restrictive [...]
The Bank of England has developed a mythical stature – it’s time to burst it

October 20, 2021

The UK, along with the rest of the Western world, has just lived through a period of low inflation. In the 25 years since the mid-1990s, inflation has averaged just 2 per cent a year. It is enough to double the price level every 35 years, but a far cry from the double-digit rates seen [...]
Bail outs for businesses in strife only gloss over the truth, it’s time to face reality

October 13, 2021

The price of both oil and gas has doubled across the world in the last year. The price of crude oil is at $84 a barrel for the first time in three years. As a result, fuel of every kind, for every purpose has become more expensive. The public has reacted in the most extraordinary [...]
Universities have sown their own demise with blended learning and short courses

October 7, 2021

The start of autumn has seen the start of the university term for students since time immemorial. This time round of course, the ritual of hauling luggage round the country to the halls of residence has not quite been on the same scale as usual. Some universities, including members of the prestigious Russell Group, are [...]
Hikes to national insurance funds a level of public services we can’t afford

September 15, 2021

The government’s plan to increase National Insurance has sparked the predictable furore. The pressures to raise taxes to pay for the level of public services the electorate have come to expect is hardly new. The welfare state was created immediately after the Second World War. For a time, the financial demands were held in check. [...]
A service economy and shrinking workforce is the driving force of low economic growth

September 8, 2021

Extinction Rebellion’s fortnight of protests have only hardened existing beliefs and positions on both sides of the debate. But a book by Dietrich Vollrath of the University of Houston suggests that there may be much broader support for a low or even zero growth agenda than even XR might imagine. Vollrath does not address this [...]
Labour shortages make light work of fears of a post-Brexit unemployment surge

September 1, 2021

In the two decades before the Brexit referendum, there was a large increase in the number of people moving from the EU to the UK. In the mid-1990s there were less than one million EU citizens living in the UK. By the mid-2010s, this had risen to 3.6 million. The bulk of the increase came [...]

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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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