policymaking

February 6, 2024

Q.E.D. Why Politicians Need an Evidence-based Approach to Policy Problems

Poor policymaking has significantly contributed to Europe’s challenges across various fields. Despite politicians’ professed commitment to evidence-based policymaking, the paper highlights how decisions are infected by populism and short-termism.
February 25, 2021

Should Classical Liberals Encourage Secession?

Europe is a continent of small and medium-sized nations, and many citizens in these nations wish to form even smaller ones. Should free-market liberals encourage further decentralisation and self-determination? Or should they rather emphasise the importance of stable and growing economies?
November 14, 2019

Nanny State on Tour

This study calculates how much UK foreign aid was spent (in 2018 prices) on lifestyle interventions targeting smoking, drinking, eating and sedentary behaviour.UK taxpayers spent £44.6million on ‘nanny state’ foreign aid projects between 2005 and 2018, spread over 35 projects in 47 countries. The three biggest recipients were China (£7.9million), India (£2.2 million) and Colombia (£1.8 million).
October 8, 2019

The Thunberg Phenomenon, Extinction Rebellion, and the Denial of Trade-offs

When it comes to environmental problems in general and global warming in particular, I empathise with those who take the issue seriously. I like nature and I am risk averse. However, I tend to disagree with most campaigners on their policy conclusions which are frequently dangerous, at best.
March 1, 2019

Battle Resumes – The Copyright Directive is Back

The Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (the “Directive”) is back. The issues with the Directive were described in our September 2018 briefing The Copyright Directive – The EU Battles the Internet.
January 1, 2019

Commission Consulting on Move to Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) on Taxation

On 20th December, the European Commission launched a (relatively brief) consultation on moving from unanimity to qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council on certain tax issues. The public consultation closes on the 17th January, with “indicative planning” to be carried out this quarter.
December 1, 2017

2017 Index of Liberalisations: a Summary

The 2017 IBL Index of Liberalisations aims to shed light on the degree of openness of the 28 Member States by examining ten different economic sectors. First published in 2007, the Index began classifying all of the 28 EU Member States in 2015.