EconomicsNotes

    The railways were nationalised in 1948, in a state of collapse. They were then built up as an integrated system until the 1960s, when the Beeching reforms attempted to transform them into an intercity service, and a freight service (aided by the questionable and possibly corrupt expansion of the motorways by a motorway construction executive who was also Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples, between 1959 and 1964.) This involved closing lots of small lines and network points. The service did prosper, and invested in advanced passenger trains, but was starved of funds by government during the stagflationary episode of 1973-1983. It was then privatised in 1992. A nationalised or integrated railway has positive externalities in terms of geographical mobility, though these have only recently become apparent. In the 1980s, consumers were still discovering the car, which became a more flexible and personal substitute, especially as the expansion of finance allowed more people...

    The United Kingdom in 2022 is facing an historic energy problem.   An island sitting on top of vast reserves of coal, surrounded by gas and oil in its waters, and with great hydroelectric potential, has seen vast increases in energy pricing and has become dependent on foreign gas, without having significant storage capacity. In addition, a ‘green’ environmental agenda, recently compounded by ‘net zero’ policies with regard to carbon, has generated massive subsidies to underperforming renewable resources, and a confused and restrictive policy with regard to nuclear power. As world gas prices rise because of competition from East Asia and declines in supply, a price cap and marketisation policy in gas markets has caused the collapse of a large number of domestic gas suppliers and a forced increase in the cap which caused many bills to rise by over 50%. There is every indication that these bills will rise further. The microeconomic effects of this rise are simple to ...