Author Archives: Theo Clifford

Opinion: The case for NGDP targeting (1)

By Theo Clifford | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 1:59 pm

The Times is reporting that the Treasury is setting up an internal unit to look into the wisdom of revising the Bank of England’s ‘flexible’ 2% CPI inflation target. Mark Carney, the incoming Governor of the Bank who will replace Mervyn King in June, mentioned the merits of adopting NGDP (National Gross Domestic Product) level targeting in a speech last December, launching a frenzy of speculation.

Considering the enormous effect expectations of future monetary policy changes have had in places such as Japan, it may be that the talk of NGDP targeting is partly behind the …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged NGDP | 11 Comments

Opinion: Deregulate Sunday trading to go for growth

By Theo Clifford | Wed 15th August 2012 - 9:36 am

The Coalition needs to get over its obsession with small businesses – and deregulate Sunday trading
With the recent fragility of the Coalition, it’s easy to forget that the Lib Dems do agree with the Tories on some issues. If we didn’t, it would have been impossible to forge a workable government in the first place. Mounting instability over constitutional reform makes it all the more important that the two parties can work together where their philosophies do align. One of those areas is economic and regulatory policy. Despite some notable blind spots, the Conservatives do share our belief in the strength of the free market to provide long-run economic growth. While many regulations are necessary and right, the Coalition should be able to work together in order to eliminate arbitrary and damaging rules that distort rather than level the economic playing field.