Levelling Up

Many government policies revolve around the accrual and allocation of funds. Raise funds with Tax A and hand them to Department B. Cut Department C’s budget to pay for project D etc.

This blog is concerned with another class of policies. Policies that aim to give better results for the same cost. Policies that change the structure of the economy rather than just tinkering with the allocation of resources.

My Latest Posts

• Conservative Collapse and Labour’s Landslide: a data driven examination of the 2024 General ElectionJuly 12, 2024
  tl;dr An unpopular Labour party, led by an unpopular Keir Starmer achieved a landslide victory due to the even more extreme unpopularity of the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak. But this meant that Labour’s victory was on historically low vote share and turnout. We explore the ways in which this election is exceptional and the waysContinue reading “Conservative Collapse and Labour’s Landslide: a data driven examination of the 2024 General Election”
• A New Taxation ParadigmJuly 8, 2022
  tl;dr We argue that no taxes should exist simply to raise funds, all taxes should be aligned with public policy objectives. This leads to a proposal where the majority of funds are raised through a Land Value Tax, a Carbon Tax, a Consumption Tax and Sin taxes. Two Birds with One Stone Each tax hasContinue reading “A New Taxation Paradigm”
• Political Labels, Bayesian Priors and CentrismMay 24, 2022
  tl;dr The public policy idea space is too large for most individuals to reach an informed view on all issues. Individuals therefore use some high level model (belief in the market, state control, libertarianism etc.) to define a prior or starting point. We identify models associated with political and economic schools, parties and finally defineContinue reading “Political Labels, Bayesian Priors and Centrism”
• Tax System Bugs Part 1 – Plumbers and PlasterersMarch 8, 2022
  tl;dr Income Tax is a friction that prevents many beneficial but marginal transactions from taking place, particularly in labour heavy industries. A re-designed tax system would avoid income tax. Benefits of Specialisation A plumber and a plasterer are doing up their homes. Both houses have a similar amount of work to do, a week ofContinue reading “Tax System Bugs Part 1 – Plumbers and Plasterers”
• Policy Debt, Taxes and Digging HolesFebruary 1, 2022
  tl;dr Technical Debt is a concept from software development describing how, over time, pressure to deliver features leads to complex systems and low productivity. A parallel concept, Policy Debt, can be observed in the public policy sphere, particularly in the hugely complex Tax Code. As in software development, although the optimal solution may be toContinue reading “Policy Debt, Taxes and Digging Holes”