All for broadband and broadband for all
In the run-up to last week’s UK General Election, the main political parties supplemented headline-grabbing policy announcements around Brexit policies and the NHS with outlines of their plans for supporting investment in key national infrastructure. Among the announcements were those in support of ensuring that all homes and businesses should have access to very high capacity broadband. With the Conservative Party now in power and promising to deliver gigabit-capable networks for all by 2025, we ask how can this be achieved? Read More
Investment promises from politicians—should we believe them?
As the UK general election approaches, voters are being seduced by promises from all the parties about how much they will invest in improving the nation’s infrastructure over the next Parliament. What should we make of these promises? This question is not just about political credibility (or even honesty); it has a hard economic edge. The injection of a slew of new major and minor projects would have implications for the quality of public services, employment, inflation, taxation and government debt. It is worth asking ourselves how much of this spending will actually happen—and when. Read More
Linking the world: economics and finance in new infrastructure projects
With modern society increasingly relying on large infrastructure projects, we look at the economics and financial considerations that underpin their development and delivery. Three particular aspects are explored: how to finance them, weigh their costs and benefits, and build in effective incentive properties Read More
No Withdrawal Agreement? What happens next?
During October 2018, the UK and the EU are hoping to have agreed on the basis for the UK to withdraw from the Union, with the Agreement to be ratified by EU institutions and the UK Parliament before the UK leaves on 29 March 2019. What happens if the UK leaves with no deal in place? Read More
Second FCP Annual Conference—Anti-Trust and Anti-Globalization
Oxera Principal, Dr Avantika Chowdhury, with be speaking at the Second FCP Annual Conference on Anti-Trust and Anti-Globalization. Avantika will be joining a panel debate on private enforcement of EU competition law after Brexit,… Read More
2017 Global Private Litigation Faculty Conference
All roads lead to Amsterdam on May 7-8, 2017 for the inaugural Global Private Litigation Conference – and to insights into the continuing path of multi-jurisdictional and collective antitrust redress, presented by a world-class… Read More
It’s a tough one: Ofwat’s PR19 methodology
Ofwat’s consultation paper details how it proposes to set allowed revenues for the 16 water companies in England and Wales over 2020–25. It also puts in place arrangements to help introduce markets at various points in the water and wastewater value chain. Read More
Shrinkflation! A bite missing?
While the price of a Toblerone bar has not changed in recent years, its size has—between 2009 and 2010, a standard bar became 30g lighter (from 200g to 170g), and by 2016 it had shrunk to 150g. What factors lead a firm to pass on a cost shock by changing the size of a product rather than its price? And what effect does this have on consumers and inflation statistics? Read More
The policy of truth? Deception in markets and in public policy
Political manipulation of voters is nothing new. However, ‘post-truth’ politics arguably takes matters to a new level. Behavioural economics has developed a framework for examining how people can be deceived in markets and whether the market corrects for this. So how might behavioural economics and ‘post-truth’ be regarded as two sides of the same coin? We examine ways in which people can be manipulated through deception—and the potential remedies Read More