Latest Publications
Fair Markets
Markets are the best way to create and distribute wealth, but they don’t always work well for all the people in them. We research ways that sensible interactions between the state and the private sector can maximise growth and fairness.
Latest Publications:
Publication
Dwelling on it: Housing crises in the English speaking world
Countries across the English-speaking world are wracked by a housing crisis that is pushing the matter firmly up politicians’ agendas. This introductory paper – the first of a series of SMF reports on addressing the problem of housing – provides an overview of the scale of the crisis in homeownership, private renting, social housing and homelessness across the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
| Published: | 13 March 2024 |
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| Author: | Jamie Gollings |
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Member choice for pensions: Addressing some common questions
This paper builds on the SMF paper published in December 2023, which argued for ‘member choice’ in pensions. With such a proposal under consideration by the Government, it addresses some common questions and misapprehensions.
| Published: | 16 February 2024 |
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| Author: | Michael Johnson |
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Weighing the pounds: The economics of public health intervention
This is the third of three papers exploring tobacco, alcohol, obesity and gambling policy. It argues that the contribution of such activities to the economy should not be used as a justification to avoid action to discourage them, whereas the costs they generate through ill health are more significant – though they should not be overstated.
| Published: | 09 February 2024 |
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| Author: | Aveek Bhattacharya |
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Member choice, to complement small pots’ consolidation
In the Autumn Statement 2023, the Chancellor announced a call for evidence on a lifetime provider model for pensions. This briefing, with a foreword from pensions minister Paul Maynard, details a “member choice” proposal, which would simplify the pensions market by allowing individuals to move towards having one pension pot for life, thereby helping to tackle the long-standing problem of “small pot” pensions.
| Published: | 13 December 2023 |
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| Author(s): | Michael Johnson, Tom McPhail |
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Are regulations achieving their objectives? Post Implementation Reviews – why they should be done, why they aren’t done and how to get them done
Regulatory policy is often under-prioritised by governments, particularly when compared with the detailed focus associated with tax and spending measures. Even where a clear policy development process is adopted and applied for regulatory measures, it rarely has the same profile or attendant resources as applied to fiscal measures. This paper, with a foreword by John Penrose MP, highlights one aspect of this regulatory policy deficit – the lack of priority given to evaluation and ex-post review of regulatory measures.
| Published: | 12 December 2023 |
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| Author(s): | Stephen Gibson, Krishna Kenche |
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RAMPing up? Lessons from TestRAMP as a marketplace solution for COVID-19 testing
TestRAMP established a marketplace to boost supply, availability and affordability of PCR testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. This briefing considers the general lessons learned from that experience and high-level implications for how to scale up markets in scarce critical resources, or ‘crisis markets’, in times of emergency.
| Published: | 06 December 2023 |
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| Author(s): | Mike Hudson, Sam Robinson |
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Putting intensive farming out to pasture: Can alternative proteins reduce farmed animal suffering?
The market for meat alternatives has grown rapidly over the last decade, yet they still only account for 1% of the global meat market. This report, the third and final instalment of a series, investigates the potential for further growth in the alternative meat market, and how far these products can drive a meaningful shift in eating habits.
| Published: | 13 November 2023 |
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| Author(s): | Jake Shepherd, Aveek Bhattacharya |
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The scale of the opportunity: How growing firms can contribute to the UK economy
Building on the findings of a previous report investigating the barriers to the expansion of ‘scale-ups’, this briefing digs deeper into the characteristics of ‘scale-ups’ and their significant contribution to the British economy, providing fresh evidence to support our recommendations to encourage scale-up growth.
| Published: | 08 November 2023 |
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| Author: | John Asthana Gibson |
Publication
Bare necessities: Towards an improved framework for social tariffs in the UK
The cost of living crisis has left many households struggling to afford essential goods and services. This report explores the case for social tariffs – discounts offered to certain vulnerable customers – the goods they are best suited to and how they should be designed to deliver for all.
| Published: | 29 September 2023 |
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| Author(s): | Sam Robinson, John Asthana Gibson |