The Capitalist

Britain’s ‘equal value’ pay rules go well beyond upholding equal pay for the same work, and mean that tribunals have the power to ignore the market and decide that bin men and teaching assistants should, in fact, be paid the same. These rules bankrupted Birmingham City Council, and the big supermarkets are already facing claims worth up to £8 billion for back pay. Now the Government wants to expand the law further, adding race and disability to the list of grounds on which you can bring a claim.
Alex Tabarrok, Professor of Economics at George Mason University and co-founder of the blog Marginal Revolution wrote a viral post in 2024 on Britain’s ‘Orwellian’ approach to equal value pay. He walks CapX editor Marc Sidwell through the madness of trying to rule by committee on how to treat apples and oranges the same, and explains why trying to set a just price is like suing the weather.
He says we’ve somehow ended up in the worst of all worlds: instead of the old Marxist fantasy of a scientific bureaucracy making economic decisions, we have a tribunal system everyone can see is broken, spending years and generating hundreds of pages of documents to produce nonsensical outcomes.
Tabarrok argues our pay rules are part of a much bigger pattern: well-intentioned rules piling up like pebbles in a stream, until the stream – the economy, innovation and growth – is dammed. And sometimes only a sharp rap on the head from reality can restore policymakers to their senses.


Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co/subscribe

Give Andy Burnham his due. He has been arguing for devolution for the best part of a decade. But Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen says that’s what makes the Prime Minister’s recent announcements so dispiriting. Burnham says he wants Whitehall to give power away, but he seems determined to grip tighter than ever.
Houchen argues that handing over a share of business rates and income tax counts for little if mayors are restricted from choosing how to spend the money – or whether to offer a tax rebate instead. The proposed arrangement is more like pocket money with strings attached – devolution in name only.
Each week we bring you an example of the best writing from CapX, read aloud. For hosted conversations, listen to The Capitalist, every Wednesday.
Get full access to the CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co


Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co/subscribe

In June, SpaceX went public in the largest IPO in history. Three days earlier, a German historian published a book explaining why that moment had been 60 years in the making.
CapX editor Marc Sidwell sits down with Rainer Zitelmann to discuss ‘New Space Capitalism’, Zitelmann's account of how private enterprise took over the final frontier. They also discuss how SpaceX cut launch costs by 95%, why the space shuttle was a fiasco, what cost-plus contracting does to a defence budget and who will own the land beneath the first city on Mars.
Zitelmann argues that space is the one industry where the world has moved decisively towards markets rather than away from them – which makes it the clearest available demonstration of what capitalism can do. Of 324 rocket launches worldwide last year, 165 were SpaceX’s; if the company were a country it would rank first, well ahead of China. But he also warns that the next stage will stall unless someone settles the question the Outer Space Treaty left open in 1967: whether private companies and individuals can own property beyond Earth.


Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co/subscribe

Our new Chancellor has a problem: paying for Andy Burnham’s plans. Raising taxes will damage the economy, and won’t raise enough. Lower bus fares and VAT off energy bills are scarce consolation when people can’t get jobs. There is no other way. John Healey needs to find the courage to reform welfare.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately says the path to a stronger economy runs through work, not welfare – and the country cannot afford a government too timid to make that case.
Each week we bring you an example of the best writing from CapX, read aloud. For hosted conversations, listen to The Capitalist, every Wednesday.
Get full access to the CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co


Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co/subscribe

Britain has a new prime minister. But will Andy Burnham’s new government reverse years of stagnation?
CapX editor Marc Sidwell sits down with Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith to ask whether Burnham is about to double down on a bigger state or finally embrace growth. They also discuss why Westminster needs more people who have actually run a company, the 'insanity' of Labour's plan to expand equal value pay claims and why putting up taxes was toxic for the Conservative Party’s brand.
Griffith argues that nationalising British Steel is a mistake – reindustrialising Britain doesn't require more subsidies or state ownership, but cheaper energy, lower taxes, welfare reform and a ruthless assault on red tape. He also explains why business confidence depends as much on certainty as on policy itself.
Plus: how Kemi Badenoch is steering her party back towards free-market principles, and what a pro-growth offer to the next generation should look like.


Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co/subscribe