Since the early 2000s, the NHS has improved according to most measures of quality and performance. Survival rates for major diseases have increased, waiting lists have been shortened, and the prevalence of hospital infections has been reduced.This improvement has come from a very low base so...

New IEA report compares the performance of the NHS to that of its European counterpartsSummary:While in many other policy areas, there is a political appetite for learning from international best practice, healthcare remains the exception: the healthcare debate remains inward-looking and...

The NHS is part of the UK’s national story – a founding myth of post-war Britain. But like most founding myths, the popular NHS story is only very loosely based on actual events. The belief that the foundation of the NHS was a manifestation of ‘people power’ is completely untrue....

Millennials have long been portrayed as a politically disengaged and apathetic generation. In recent years, however, that portrayal has changed drastically. The rise of mass movements such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, the ‘Greta Thunberg movement’ and Momentum, together with...

A critique of the New Economic Foundation's 21 hours reportIn the thirtieth IEA Current Controversies Paper, Kristian Niemietz critiques 21 hours, a report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF). The report proposes a gradual reduction of the standard working week to 21 hours within about a...

Radical solutions need to be sought to get people off welfare and back into workIn the thirty-second IEA Discussion Paper, Poverty Research Fellow Kristian Niemietz puts forward solutions which would substantially simplify the welfare system, put in place better incentives to encourage work and...

A ground-breaking study on the measurement of povertyThis ground-breaking study on the measurement of poverty shows how policy in this field has taken a wrong turn with disastrous results.In recent years, poverty has generally been understood in ‘relative’ terms. That is, people are regarded...

Government’s timid reform will not solve chronic housing affordability problemsNot enough is being done to reduce the extraordinarily high cost of housing in Britain. This is the finding of a new report released today by the Institute of Economic Affairs Abundance of land, shortage of...

New IEA research finds a market-oriented anti-poverty policy could lead to families being £750 a month better offExecutive Summary:In the past intellectual movements promoting free trade in particular and a free economy more generally were regarded as having a pro-poor agenda. The current...

Airport expansion must be wrestled from government’s hands, argues new reportSummary:Opposition to air travel has never been about carbon emissions alone. Papers that criticise air travel often begin with a discussion of environmental impacts, but then quickly morph into an aesthetic critique...