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Book: The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford

on January 12, 2015

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Book: The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford

I started reading The Undercover Economist last year, and though it took me a while to get round to finishing, it largely didn’t disappoint. In it, economist and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford seeks to put economics in everyday context, explaining theories in straightforward terms and giving an eye-opening account of how various actors behave in the marketplace. My copy was actually an amended edition, re-published to respond to the financial crisis of 2008 (the original, published in 2005, instead focused more heavily on the Dotcom bubble).

Dear Jeremy - I'm a Labour member, but I'm not the one you need to hear more from

Jeremy Corbyn is outlining plans for a “democratic revolution” in Labour that will give individual members more say over party policy. This will include online ballots and a review of the powers of Labour’s National Executive Committee (currently elected every two years by party members like me). The measures would therefore move things away from the status quo, whereby official party policy is mostly decided by a mix of the party leadership, the National Policy Forum (also elected by members) and motions at our annual conferences. They also fit into the broader vogue to open up democracy and shift away from top-down representative systems that we’ve seen in recent years, which I’ve at times been favourable to (I’ve blogged in support of recall for MPs , the EU referendum and electing Britain’s EU commissioner , for example). However, I must say that speaking as one of the rank-and-file party members Jeremy is offering to empower, I actually believe this particular refor...

Yes, we need a serious discussion about the NHS. But charges are not the answer

Of late, the all-important issue of NHS funding has been brought back into the news by various contributions to this vital debate – some good, some bad. I write today to try call attention to one of the more worrying ones, which is doing the rounds with ever more frequency, and then give the alternatives. Phillip Lee MP, a GP and a potential chair of Commons Health Committee following respected Tory moderate Stephen Dorrell’s resignation, wrote in The Telegraph on Wednesday about the challenges facing the service. While pledging to “preserve the important principle of access for all”, he suggests this: “Thirdly, we must change how we pay for healthcare to meet future demand. The NHS is not alone in facing a tough financial climate and other countries offer a range of options to test. Norway charges patients to see their GP and for routine tests. Germany has a compulsory social insurance scheme. France uses a means test. In Denmark patients are charged (at cost) for their dr...

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