Outcomes are a better policy driver than ideology

 

War, terrorism, climate change: our most urgent problems are too complex for any except specialists fully to comprehend. Even the specialists often disagree, and not only on marginal matters. Perhaps they are predisposed to select only the information that suits their ideology. There are so many relationships, so many variables, and such large distances of time and space between cause and effect, that to disinterested observers there are good cases to be made on both sides of such concerns as the Kyoto Protocol or conflict in the Middle East.   Read more

 

Climate Change

The Kyoto Protocol is deeply flawed. It assumes that governments know what is happening to the climate and how best to stop it. So it has very little to do with stopping climate change. Instead, it focuses entirely on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It will be colossally expensive both to implement and administer. Read more

 

Concorde: end of the nightmare

If you shovel billions of dollars of taxpayers' money into an aeroplane it's hardly surprising if it turns out to be a technological marvel. The fulsome media tributes to Concorde neglected to mention its development cost: £11 billion in current terms. This works out to be about £2000 for every single passenger ticket throughout the 30 years of Concorde’s operation.  Read more

 

Spending is not a policy goal

 

Just because a government spends so many more millions of dollars on health, education  or social welfare doesn’t mean it’s doing anything useful. When looking at social well-being what is important are outcomes. Money spent by a particular government department doesn’t necessarily improve things—it is an input, not an outcome and much of it gets soaked up in bureaucrats’ salaries. Read more