Dr Eamonn Butler comments on the Scottish referendum results on BBC London Radio

Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, spoke to BBC London Radio's breakfast show about the Scottish referendum results. The result was confirmed during Dr Butler's interview. Listen to the interview here.

Charlotte Bowyer argues Google's internet dominance is the result of market choice in the CityAM Forum

The Adam Smith Institute's Head of Digital Policy, Charlotte Bowyer, writes for the CityAM Forum: Is News Corp right that Google’s internet dominance is damaging?

Charlotte Bowyer, a digital policy researcher at the Adam Smith Institute, says No.

It’s true that Google’s size makes issues such as user privacy, data scraping and the make-up of its search algorithms a concern. However, this doesn’t, on balance, mean that Google's dominance is a bad thing.

Its share of the search market was achieved against fierce competition, suggesting nothing more sinister than a superior service. It has also mastered the art of creating valuable, additional products from data that users are happy to provide. This allows it to offer deep, tailored and useful services which add value to our online experience.

And while presenting Google Maps at the top of a search result might reduce traffic to certain sites, it’s hard to see it as detrimental to users’ needs.

Indeed, many of the criticisms News Corp levels against Google stem from its own struggle to achieve a successful online business model. Issues of intellectual property shouldn’t be conflated with the question of market abuse.

Read the full article here.

Kate Andrews argues against compulsory voting on Sky News

On the day of the Scottish referendum, Communications Manager of the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, made the case against compulsory voting on Sky News.

Press Release: New FA proposals to reduce non-EU players may backfire - and that's a good thing!

Commenting on the Football Association's first draft of proposals to reduce the number of non-EU players within English football, Head of Policy at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, said:

The FA's new proposals are very unlikely to achieve their goals, and may actually backfire — but that's a good thing!

Their overall goal—cutting the fraction of non-EU players in the premiership by half—is wrongheaded. Clamping down on foreign players will hurt English club football without helping the English national team, according to the evidence.

Last month, Adam Smith Institute research showed there was no statistically significant link between either current or past prevalence of foreigners and how well England does in European or World Cups.

The actual proposals, however, contain a number of good ideas: automatically granting visas when clubs are willing to pay a large fee; and giving visas to players who play 30%, rather than 75%, of a top 30-ranked international team's games. The old version of the latter rule was too tight and would have kept out, among others, Willian.

The proposals which tighten rules (clamping down on Championship visas, narrowing the visa extent to top 50 rather than top 70, and stopping subjectivity in appeals), though misguided, seem too trivial to have a large negative impact.

Overall most of the proposals are either trivial or welcome, and shouldn't worry us too much. But the attitude and goals that the FA evince should worry us—cracking down on foreign players threatens to wreck English club football while doing nothing to improve the English national team.

Notes to editors:

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778207.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Sam Bowman discusses an independent Scotland's currency options on Sky News

Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, discusses the benefits of adaptive sterlingization if Scotland were to vote for independence. (Starts at 2:18)

Press Release: International tax rankings show that Britain risks being left behind leaner rivals

Commenting on the 2014 International Tax Competitiveness Index, Head of Policy at the Adam Smith Institute, Ben Southwood, said:

It's a nasty surprise to see that the UK ranks behind Mexico for tax competitiveness, and highlights the risk of the UK falling behind in the international tax competition stakes.

In contrast to small open economies like Estonia who are simplifying their tax systems to be as attractive to investment as possible, the UK looks in danger of the same institutional sclerosis that has bedevilled other major countries.

Thankfully these large economies—including France, Italy, USA, Japan—all rank even worse according to the index, except Germany who beats the UK by only one place.

But this narrow victory shouldn't be cause for complacency. International competitiveness is important and helpful for spurring politicians into action, but nothing like the whole story.

Adam Smith Institute research from March found that approximately 60% of the burden of corporation tax fell on workers in the form of lower wages, while the rest weighed on investment—even ignoring the international impact.

This suggests that going further and faster with corporation tax cuts could deliver a cocktail of much-needed economic growth and wage hikes at the same time.

Notes to editors:

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778207.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

"Left-Yes owes a debt to liberal right wing" - The ASI is featured in The Herald

The Adam Smith Institute was featured in The Herald's article on the liberal right wing policies that would need to be adopted, should Scotland choose independence.

And while the left-Yes advocate what are promoted as radical new ideas for an independent Scotland, we should recognise that many of these ideas have their roots in the liberal right.

For example, the Citizen's Income promoted by the Greens was advocated by the liberal economist Milton Friedman through a simple negative income tax starting rate, slashing the cost and complexity of delivering welfare. And just recently, the idea of an independent Scotland informally using sterling without a state central bank is simple liberal economics, as supported by the Adam Smith Institute.

Read the full article here.

Sam Bowman appears on BBC Newsnight to discuss an independent Scotland's currency options

Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, appeared on BBC Newsnight (10 Sept 2014) to discuss the policy benefits of 'adaptive sterlingization' if Scotland were to vote for independence. (Starts at 3:09)

Programmes Director of TEN writes for CityAM

Programmes Director of The Entrepreneur's Network, Annabel Denham, writes for CityAM: 'UK entrepreneurs are ever-more optimistic – but there’s still work to do.'

WE ALL know entrepreneurs are a positive bunch, afflicted with “optimism bias” – a rare ability to view the glass as half full – which drives them to success. And according to this year’s Hiscox DNA of an Entrepreneur report, business owners across the UK, US and parts of Europe are more optimistic today than they have been for some time.

We’re seeing signs that smaller companies have weathered the storms of recent years and are looking to the future with increasing confidence. Readers of this paper may be particularly pleased to hear that financial service business owners are the most optimistic of all, with a quarter planning to hire senior and junior staff (versus a 14 per cent average) in the near future.

Read the full article here.

The Entrepreneurs Network is a cross-party think tank designed to bring entrepreneurs to the forefront of political discourse and help make Britain the best place in the world to start a business. TEN is based within the Adam Smith Institute and is supported by Octopus Investments, one of the UK’s fastest growing fund management companies specialising in smaller company investing.

Sam Bowman rates an independent Scotland's currency options in the Financial Times

Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, participated in a panel of expert economists who were asked to rate an independent Scotland's currency options for the Financial Times:

Sam Bowman, research director at the Adam Smith Institute Currency union with the UK: 5

In many ways a currency union would be business as usual for Scotland and the least problematic short-term option. However, EU regulations may still require RBS and Lloyds to domicile in the City even under a currency union. In addition, Scottish sovereign debt may trade at artificially low rates thanks to the implicit backing of the BoE, encouraging unsustainable borrowing. Most seriously, without fiscal transfers between Scotland and the rest of the UK, there is a danger that Scotland would not be able to do anything in response to demand-side shocks to the economy, potentially resulting in prolonged and harmful periods of deflation for Scotland. Sterlingisation: 9 Sterlingisation could be Scotland’s best option in the medium to long term, especially if combined with banking reforms allowing banks to issue their own promissory notes, backed by the pound sterling on a fractional basis. With no central bank to act as a lender of last resort, banks would be required to make private provision for such facilities. International evidence from the dollarised Latin American states, notably Panama, Ecuador and El Salvador, suggests that this would improve bank soundness by eliminating moral hazard. Without restrictions on note issuance (and the monopoly protections that encourage excessive issuance), banks would expand and contract their balance sheets in a countercyclical fashion, offsetting changes in velocity with immediate changes in the money supply, reducing the risk of the sort of demand-side recession that took place globally in 2008. This radical option may prove difficult to transition to in the short term, however. A separate currency: 7 The option of an independent Scottish currency has been unfairly maligned. A free-floating currency would indeed be at risk of speculative attack but with the right mandate it could have substantial benefits as well. For example, were the Scottish central bank to target nominal gross domestic product instead of following an inflation target, a Scottish currency would provide a stable macroeconomic environment that adjusted to shocks automatically, keeping nominal spending levels (or aggregate demand) constant (in a similar way to the free banking option, albeit through a different mechanism). By keeping spending constant along a predictable growth level, an independent Scottish currency would lose purchasing power in recessions but would avoid the “musical chairs” problem of sharp drops in nominal GDP leading to unnecessary structural unemployment. A free-floating currency would be at risk of the Dutch disease, however, with Scotland’s substantial resource wealth making its other export sectors relatively uncompetitive.

Joining the euro: 2 Joining the euro carries the same risks as a currency union with the UK but on a greater scale. The eurozone is already far from being an optimal currency area, and it is easy to imagine shocks to the Scottish economy (such as a drop in oil prices) that would be barely felt in the rest of the eurozone and hence would receive no policy response. On top of these potential dangers the ECB has already proven itself to be a badly run institution in practice, strangling the eurozone, stifling recovery and pushing up unemployment with tight money. There is almost nothing positive to be said for this option.

Read the full article here.