Showing 9 of 56 Publications

It’s in UK’s interest for Ireland to reach herd immunity

Popular Media After a disastrous pandemic response that led to one of the worst death rates in the world, the UK’s vaccination programme is finally giving it . . .

After a disastrous pandemic response that led to one of the worst death rates in the world, the UK’s vaccination programme is finally giving it something to be cheerful about. The UK bought early and broadly, prioritising speed and betting that – although it did not yet know which vaccines would work – at least some would make the cut. These early investments made it possible for vaccine manufacturers to invest in more production capacity early on.

In contrast, the EU was slow, prioritised cost reductions, refused to waive liability for vaccine firms if something went wrong, and focused on a smaller number of vaccines – some of which, like France’s Sanofi vaccines, have suffered setbacks.

Read the full piece here.

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Innovation & the New Economy

Tobias Ellwood is wrong: we’d be far worse off in a world without Big Tech

Popular Media Critiques of big tech are ten a penny, but it’s not often that you hear a politician, let alone a Conservative one, saying we should . . .

Critiques of big tech are ten a penny, but it’s not often that you hear a politician, let alone a Conservative one, saying we should shut down tech companies altogether. So it was a surprise to see Tory MP Tobias Ellwood arguing in the Mail on Sunday that we would be better off if the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter did not exist at all.

Read the full piece here.

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Is Rishi Sunak the most dangerous man in government?

Popular Media The biggest threat now facing the country is from new variants of Covid that are resistant to our vaccines. It is already clear that this . . .

The biggest threat now facing the country is from new variants of Covid that are resistant to our vaccines. It is already clear that this is possible: Novavax’s vaccine efficacy is 95.6% against the original Covid variant, 86% against the current UK variant, and only 60% against the South African variant, for example. If one emerges that is even more resistant, we could be back to square one.

Read the full piece here.

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Innovation & the New Economy

Covid gives UK a chance to repair relations with the Irish Republic

Popular Media There is a good chance that the UK’s 2021 is a lot like Australia and New Zealand’s 2020. With vaccinations running at a decent speed, . . .

There is a good chance that the UK’s 2021 is a lot like Australia and New Zealand’s 2020. With vaccinations running at a decent speed, and assuming the Johnson & Johnson and Novavax jabs are also approved, the UK should be able to vaccinate most of the at-risk population against coronavirus by the middle of the spring.

But other countries are much further behind on vaccinations, so there is a danger of a vaccine-resistant variant emerging abroad. If it makes its way to the UK, that could bring us back to stage one, where the virus could again only be controlled by a return to lockdowns.

Read the full piece here.

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Innovation & the New Economy

Misinterpreting Lockdown Claims

Popular Media Toby Young (25 Jan) writes that “lockdowns will cause more harm than they prevent.” But he cites a study that undermines his own claims. The . . .

Toby Young (25 Jan) writes that “lockdowns will cause more harm than they prevent.” But he cites a study that undermines his own claims. The paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research says, “Without any doubt, lockdowns save lives” and proposes that policy-makers “[combine] lockdowns with policy interventions meant to reduce economic distress”.

It looks at the effects of the pandemic as a whole and stresses that much of the economic damage has come from the virus itself. It does not support Young’s claims that the lockdown, rather than the pandemic itself, is the main cause of our economic woes.

Read the full piece here.

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Innovation & the New Economy

The eight biggest Covid-sceptic myths – and why they’re wrong

Popular Media There has been a huge amount of misinformation during the pandemic. Much of it was unavoidable, especially at the start as we dealt with a new . . .

There has been a huge amount of misinformation during the pandemic. Much of it was unavoidable, especially at the start as we dealt with a new virus, but some myths are persisting a year into the pandemic.

The myths range from the ridiculous to the merely implausible, but together they are misleading the public about the danger of Covid-19 and other variants. These false claims could also have serious consequences, such as fuelling premature calls to end social distancing measures before the vaccination rollout has reached a safe level.

Read the full piece here.

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Innovation & the New Economy

Introductory Post: The United States v. Google

TOTM Google is facing a series of lawsuits in 2020 and 2021 that challenge some of the most fundamental parts of its business, and of the internet itself — Search, Android, Chrome, Google’s digital-advertising business, and potentially other services as well.

Google is facing a series of lawsuits in 2020 and 2021 that challenge some of the most fundamental parts of its business, and of the internet itself — Search, Android, Chrome, Google’s digital-advertising business, and potentially other services as well.

Read the full piece here.

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

The FTC’s case for breaking up Facebook is deeply flawed – let’s hope it fails

Popular Media Facebook is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 48 US states for its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram in 2014 and 2012, . . .

Facebook is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 48 US states for its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram in 2014 and 2012, respectively (as well as over restrictions about third-party API access to Facebook’s platform, which I will not try to cover here). If these plaintiffs are successful, they could lead to Facebook being forced to sell those services, meaning a break-up of Facebook Inc itself.

Read the full piece here.

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Congressman Buck’s Third Way

TL;DR U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) has proposed what he calls a “Third Way” to improve competition in digital markets.

Background…

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) has proposed what he calls a “Third Way” to improve competition in digital markets. While Buck rejects many of the remedies proposed by the House Judiciary Committee’s Democrats, he generally accepts their premises about the state of the market. Ultimately, Buck’s “Third Way” is intended to highlight areas where he and the Democrats agree, while avoiding some of the specific regulations the Democrats have proposed.

But…

Buck’s proposals would lead to a similar outcome to what the Democrats are proposing, even if he wants to avoid that. His most significant proposals—to apply the essential facilities doctrine to digital platforms, require them to be interoperable with other services, to ban self-preferencing by those platforms, and to ban below-cost selling—would constrain significantly the abilities of existing platforms to serve their customers and of would-be entrants to compete with incumbents. They also would most likely necessitate significant regulation, including price controls.

Read the full explainer here. 

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection