Climate change presents a challenge to policy-makers of an altogether different kind to the day-to-day business of intervention in the economy to correct market failures. It is characterised by major and multi-dimensional uncertainties (in the science, th
The importance of climate change is now widely accepted. From being a research topic, it has moved to the political stage, and whilst most politicians have yet to see it as a 'greater threat than weapons of mass destruction', the main political parties of
Most developed countries have adopted targets for the reduction of carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions. Some of these are aspirational, some are recorded in voluntary international agreements, others have the force of law and are enshrined in national legisla
The objectives in privatising the water industry were multiple. The then Conservative government considered that the private sector was inherently more efficient than the public sector, that share ownership could be widened and deepened by selling monopol
Dieter Helm's chapter from the BBC book 'Can the Market Deliver? Funding Public Service Television in the Digital Age', published January 2005 by John Libbey Publishing, pp. 1-21.
The review of the Renewables Obligation (RO) is an important opportunity to take stock of the renewables policy and its contribution to the ambitious climate change objectives for 2010, 2020 and 2050.
Memorandum of Evidence submitted to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee. The periodic review of the water industry sets prices for the next five years. These prices should produce sufficient revenues to finance the functions of the water co
Published by the Social Market Foundation, January 2004. Regulation in Britain has grown gradually and continuously since the privatisations of the 1980s and 1990s. Its growth has been unplanned, but has now reached a critical mass, attracting widespread
The water periodic review currently under way has raised substantive issues about the nature of the regulatory regime, as well as the appropriateness of proposed price increases, and its impact on current and future customers. This memorandum summarises t
The government set out a new direction for transport policy in its integrated transport strategy White Paper, 'A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone', published in July 1998. This was followed by the 'Ten Year Plan'. A new era for the railways exp
The paper provides a guide to climate-change policy, and, in particular, the three core components: targets, instruments, and institutional structures. First, the optimal path for reducing carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, and the role of the social cost of
Response to the DETR Consultation Document. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (GGETS) is an ill-thought out and badly designed mechanism to reduce emissions. It is unlikely to meet its objectives, and should be regarded as a scheme to subsidise
In D.R.Helm (ed.), Water, Sustainability and Regulation, published by The Oxera Press, August 2003, pp. 1-12. As the water industry and its regulators prepare for the next round of price setting, there is an opportunity to set out a stable regulatory regi
Edited by Dieter Helm, published August 2003 by The Oxera Press. This volume, published in the early stages of preparation for the 2004 water periodic review, contains contributions from political and regulatory representatives, industry experts and the c
Sustainable development has three principal components: environmental, social and economic growth. Targets and priorities are only comprehensible if they are related to objectives, and therefore the trade-offs between the three parts need to be defined.
Foreword to publication by The Environment Agency. Over the last two decades, the case for using market-based economic instruments in environmental policy has gradually been won. Few policy makers now oppose such instruments in principle. The debate has m
Memorandum of Evidence submitted to the House of Commons Inquiry into Passenger Rail Franchising and the Future of Railway Infrastructure. This memorandum reviews the reasons for the failure of the Strategy Rail Authority's (SRA) refranchising strategy, c
Royal Bank of Scotland/Scottish Economic Society Seventh Annual Lecture. Published in Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 48 (5), 471-487. This paper provides a critique of the Labour government's attempts to make Britain more competitive by reforming
DTI carries out one of the widest ranges of functions of any Whitehall department. Most of these span across British industry (and hence can be considered as 'horizontal' functions). Others are industry or sector-specific (and are therefore 'vertical' fun
This memorandum reviews the reasons for the failure of the Strategy Rail Authority's (SRA) refranchising strategy, comments on the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions' (DTLR) draft policy statement, and, in the light of the decision
Interviewed on last night's @BBCRadio4 World Tonight Program. #solar (Listen from 41.00) https://t.co/4qExYSDfyr
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