Despite the sustained success of the British labour market, workers feel increasingly insecure. This is partly due to the increased financial consequences of losing employment today. At present, neither the state nor the private market provides an adequate response to this. This report argues that government, in cooperation with the private sector, can and should provide a safety net for the vulnerable middle class to counteract this trend. Read more...
The Social Market and its Enemies: A new philosophy for Brown? explores the origins of the social market; how the social market view of the world has evolved since the foundation of the SMF; the enemies of the social market; and the characteristics that distinguish social marketeers. Read more...
This essay argues that those who benefit from globalisation need to contribute much more positively to the life chances of those who do not. If such social relations are to be expressed through government, politicians will have to undertake a significant and difficult re-evaluation of existing public institutions and spending priorities. Read more...
The New Demographics: Reshaping the world of work and retirement analyses a number of false assumptions which underlie our thinking about retirement and calls for a radical overhaul of employment and leadership models that will allow people to continue working past retirement age. Read more...
This publication examines the next steps in modernising public sector pay. A major finding of the paper is that greater equity of service provision will rely on increased local variation in public sector pay within a national pay bargaining framework. Private firms with large numbers of outlets have sophisticated gradations of regional pay. The public sector should adopt a similar model if London and the South East are to avoid a serious shortage of key public sector workers. Read more...
This publication is a result of a seminar held in December 2006, which brought together some of the most important minds from within the sector to discuss whether a sustainable responsible lending policy is required in response to the difficulties over personal debt. Read more...
In this paper, the Social Market Foundation’s first publication from 1989, Robert Sidelsky discusses the use of the phrase ‘social market economy’. It signifies a choice in favour of the market economy. The author stated that it means we turn to the market as a first resort and the government as a last resort, not the other way round. Read more...
This paper outlines the findings of an SMF seminar, held in July 2003, and includes a restatement of the presentations given, a summary of the main points that emerged from discussion, and an attempt to draw all of this together to make some tentative conclusions. Read more...
The growth of regulation in Britain since the 1980s has been haphazard but immense, spawning a profession of its own. Criticisms about costs and excessive ‘red tape’ are familiar. However, recently, broader concerns have been expressed about service failures, particularly in railways and energy networks. Read more...