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Private equity investing, as the name rather helpfully suggests, involves buying (and later selling) equity in firms that are not listed on the public markets. Under that, rather broad umbrella, a whole variety of different investing strategies can be found. Varying from venture capital (the provision of early-stage investments to often quickly growing companies) to […] 

Economics is an unusual discipline. Most fields of study are just that, a study of a specific field. Economics though is, in its broadest sense, almost a way of thinking, a common approach to methodology rather than a set subject matter. This can come as a surprise to non-economists. Often, possibly all too often, telling […] 

This European survey examines (a) Greater integration of national markets for financial services, energy and telecommunications would give a measurable boost to Europe’s GDP over the next ten years; (b) The potential benefits for GDP from loosening European merger rules to allow greater consolidation within the single market would outweigh the potential harm to consumers from weaker competition

  

This Finance survey examines that Retail investors account for a large share of global wealth, but a small share in private equity holdings. (see link: https://bain.com/insights/why-private-equity-is-targeting-individual-investors-global-private-equity-report-2023/ (a) A reduction in the barriers to all retail investors investing in private equity funds - notably regulatory restrictions on investor wealth/income and on liquidity - would substantially improve household welfare. 

This US survey examines (a) Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug would lead to measurably higher social welfare 

This week three Republican senators called upon President Biden to formally block a take-over of U.S. Steel by the Japanese firm, Nippon Steel.  As senators Vance, Hawley, and Rubio noted in their letter, whilst President Biden has made clear his opposition to such a take-over in the past he has yet to formally intervene. By […] 

There are two veins that tend to run through the tone of European economic commentary when the continent’s residents – or at least those in Western half – compare themselves to the United States. Broadly put these can be classified as either hand-wringing pessimism or rather smug complacency. The pessimistic case is based on the […] 

This US survey examines (a) Tripling existing import taxes on Chinese steel and aluminum products would lead to measurably higher employment in the US steel industry over the next five years; (b) Tripling the tariffs would lead to measurably higher steel and aluminum prices for American producers and measurably higher finished-good prices for American consumers; (c) The gains for the American economy from tripling the tariffs would measurably outweigh the losses. 

Evidence based policymaking is something which, in public at least, most public servants now aspire to. Think tanks on both sides of the Atlantic have taken to using the term over the last two decades to describe policymaking which is rooted in evidence, data, and research rather than driven by ideological reasoning. As one might […]