Markets and the Environment shows how economics and 20th century policy history can inform our understanding of and response to contemporary environmental challenges.
Environmental sustainability is a central challenge for humanity. In areas of the United Kingdom water has been rationed in two of the last four years, partly because we have not managed to build a major reservoir for over 30 years. Not only greenfield, but also brownfield land on which housing could be built to ease […]
It has been reported that executives within the motor industry have expressed frustration at the Chancellor’s intention to end the provision of luxury cars through the Motability scheme, which assists those in receipt of disability benefits with funding to lease a new vehicle. Motability itself is a private company and accounts for about a fifth […]
You may work, but are you a working person? This might just sound like an annoying exam question: probably one from the exams once sat by CEME’s philosophers and theologians, rather than by our economists. In fact it now appears to be crucial. It could determine your, and Britain’s, prosperity. Enter ‘Working People’ Back in […]
In March this year, I raised the question of whether the council tax premium on second homes constituted a solution to difficult problems – namely shortages of housing in some areas and straitened local authority finances – or was in effect a sumptuary law of sorts. The Moral Issue An important question was whether there […]
Talk given at the Danube Institute’s Conference, Budapest, 2nd October 2025. Brian also gave an interview about related topics. Mrs Thatcher became Prime Minister in May 1979 at a time when the UK economy was suffering from ‘the British disease’ and known as ‘the sick man of Europe’. We had just emerged from the ‘Winter of Discontent’, during […]
We have compiled some news, comment pieces and announcements that we hope our readers find interesting. In this instalment, there are stories relating to employment and inflation, artificial intelligence, taxation and carbon trading schemes: Why British workers keep getting pay rises despite weak hiring (Financial Times) Young hotel workers in Glasgow have negotiated a […]
How We Found Our Callings While all definitions of calling share in common the notion that work becomes meaningful within a person’s life, they differ on whether the source of the calling is internal, based on one’s own values, needs, and preferences, or external, based on either a calling from a higher power, a ‘transcendent summons,’ or […]
The Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics is pleased to announce the appointment of Revd Dr Philip Krinks as its new Director with effect from 6 October 2025. Richard Turnbull, who served as Director until April 2025, will remain with the Centre as Director Emeritus. CEME Chairman Richard Godden said: […]
The Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics was pleased to hold an event on 13 November 2025 Ethical Challenges in the Age of AI The event was chaired by Andrei Rogobete. Our guest speakers were: Revd Dr Simon Cross Bishop of Oxford’s Office and the Church of England’s specialist on […]
We have compiled some news, comment pieces and announcements that we hope our readers find interesting. In this instalment, there are stories relating to free markets and patriotism, pharmaceuticals and markets, pay growth, consumer spending, public attitudes towards capitalism and free enterprise, the environment, and artificial intelligence and the stock market: America’s new ‘patriotic’ […]