The UK Government Just Made a MASSIVE Mistake | IEA Podcast
In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, host Callum Price interviews Executive Director Tom Clougherty and Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz. The conversation examines the immediate impact of the Online Safety Act's age verification requirements, which have led to widespread content blocking, a 1400% surge in VPN downloads, and legitimate websites restricting UK access. They discuss how the legislation mirrors previous regulatory failures like the banking anti-money laundering scandal, creating false positives that harm innocent users while failing to achieve its stated objectives.The discussion moves to Ofgem's controversial proposal to make energy standing charges progressive based on income or wealth, as green transition costs drive up bills. Clougherty argues this represents dangerous mission creep in policymaking, shielding voters from the consequences of net zero policies while undermining market price signals. With UK household energy bills 20% above European averages and industrial bills 90% higher, they examine how policy choices rather than external factors account for over half of recent bill increases, creating political pressure for increasingly interventionist solutions.The episode concludes with a debate over whether Britain is truly "broken," responding to recent commentary about national decline. While acknowledging serious policy failures across multiple areas, both Clougherty and Niemietz push back against catastrophist narratives from both left and right. They argue that Britain's problems stem from poor policy choices rather than inevitable decline, emphasising the country's untapped potential and the availability of practical liberal solutions to current challenges, from planning reform to competitive taxation.Timestamps: 01:33 - Online Safety Act & Age Verification Chaos 24:57 - Progressive Energy Bills & Net Zero Costs36:07 - Is Britain Really Broken? Get full access to Institute of Economic Affairs | Insider at insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe
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How the USSR Fell | Part 3 | Rise & Fall of the Soviet Economy
In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Managing Editor Dan Freeman interviews Aymen Aulaiwi, DPhil student at Lincoln College, Oxford, in the final part of a three-part series examining the Soviet economy's rise, peak and downfall. The conversation explores how the Soviet Union's collapse began not with Gorbachev's reforms, but with Khrushchev's dual promise of political liberalisation and consumer goods that the command economy could never deliver. Aulaiwi recounts a revealing train journey across Russia where he discovered the real reason for Soviet nostalgia through a conversation with Tatiana, a former Soviet factory worker, who explained that when the USSR fell, "we got washing machines" - consumer goods that represented individual choice and liberation, particularly for women who controlled household shopping and queuing.The discussion traces the evolution from Khrushchev's "thaw" and his obsession with corn, through Brezhnev's stable but stagnant "golden age" that was funded by Siberian oil discoveries and sustained by vodka sales that comprised 18% of government revenue by 1985. Aulaiwi explains how the Soviet system survived the 1970s through what he calls a "latent crisis" - using oil profits to import Western consumer goods while allowing a massive "second economy" to flourish, with 72% of workers buying shoes on the black market as early as 1935. He describes how Soviet youth developed an "imaginary West" through smuggled Beatles records pressed on X-ray films and Western movies, while the Komsomol organised discotheques where young people danced to ABBA while ignoring communist propaganda.The episode concludes with an analysis of why Gorbachev's perestroika reforms came "too little, too late," and why the Soviet model ultimately failed where Chinese market socialism succeeded. Aulaiwi argues that the fundamental flaw was ideological - the system demanded individual sacrifice for an abstract common good, while people simply wanted the personal liberation symbolised by labor-saving devices like washing machines. He contends that women, not young dissidents, drive real social change because they comprised over 50% of the population and controlled household economics. The conversation demonstrates how the Soviet Union's collapse was primarily an economic story about unfulfilled consumer promises rather than a democratic revolution, with profound implications for understanding how centrally planned economies inevitably fail when they cannot satisfy individual human desires. Get full access to Institute of Economic Affairs | Insider at insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe
In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Callum Price, Director of Communications, interviews Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser at the Centre for Economic and Business Research and former Director General for Economics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The conversation examines the UK's persistent growth challenges, focusing on the country's productivity crisis that has plagued the economy since the financial crash. They discuss how the UK's failure to encourage investment, particularly in manufacturing sectors like chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and steel, has led to economic stagnation despite increased employment levels.Pryce identifies the critical role of uncertainty in deterring investment, from global trade tensions and Trump's tariff policies to Brexit's ongoing impact on skills shortages, particularly in construction where 40% of London's workforce previously came from the EU. The discussion covers supply-side reforms, including planning system failures and procurement problems that have made infrastructure projects like HS2 enormously expensive. They explore how different government departments need to work together more effectively, drawing on Pryce's experience of inter-departmental coordination during the previous Labour government in the 2000s.The interview concludes with an examination of the UK's mounting fiscal challenges, with the OBR projecting debt could reach 270% of GDP by 2070. Pryce outlines her three-point plan for immediate economic recovery: reversing Jeremy Hunt's National Insurance cuts, rebalancing employer National Insurance increases with income tax adjustments, and pursuing much closer trade relations with Europe. She argues that without serious productivity improvements and stronger trade partnerships, the UK faces continued economic decline and an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. Get full access to Institute of Economic Affairs | Insider at insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe
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Milei Model for UK, Wealth Tax Warning & the Extremist Youth Poll | IEA Podcast
In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, host Reem Ibrahim, Head of Media and Linda Whetstone Scholar, with guests Tom Clougherty, Executive Director, and Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director. The conversation covers the UK's deteriorating fiscal situation with June borrowing hitting £21 billion - £7 billion more than last year - and the growing pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to raise taxes. They examine new research on wealth taxes by Dan Neidle, showing how a UK wealth tax would likely be more damaging than similar policies in other countries due to the mobile nature of Britain's wealthy population and the absence of exemptions that make other systems workable.The discussion moves to Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch's comments about Argentina's Javier Milei being "the template," exploring what radical spending cuts could look like in the UK context. Clougherty and Niemietz analyse Milei's 30% real-terms reduction in public spending through department closures, mass public sector layoffs, and subsidy elimination. They debate whether Britain needs to hit rock bottom before implementing fundamental reforms, examining the political constraints around pension spending, the triple lock, and the broader challenge of government overload where politicians take responsibility for far more than they can effectively deliver.The conversation concludes with concerning polling data showing 40% of young people have a positive view of communism and 25% support fascism, extending into people's thirties and forties. They explore how economic stagnation, housing unaffordability, and government failure are driving political radicalisation toward both extremes. The hosts discuss why people blame capitalism or immigration rather than government restrictions on housing supply and economic growth, arguing that addressing these fundamental policy failures is essential to prevent further drift toward authoritarian ideologies on both left and right. Get full access to Institute of Economic Affairs | Insider at insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe
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Stalin's Economic Nightmare | Part 2 | Rise & Fall of the Soviet Economy
In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Managing Editor Dan Freeman interviews Aymen Aulaiwi, DPhil student at Lincoln College, Oxford, in the second part of a three-part series examining the Soviet economy's rise, peak and downfall. The conversation explores how Stalin transformed the Soviet Union's economy starting in 1928, synthesising earlier Bolshevik policies into a brutal command system. They discuss Stalin's collectivisation drive that forced peasants to "socialise their cows" and surrender private plots to collective farms, leading to the liquidation of the kulaks - the most productive farmers - and the devastating Holodomor famine that killed an estimated 8.5 million people by 1932.The discussion examines the mechanics of Stalin's command economy through the Five-Year Plans, where Gosplan set production targets for heavy industry while ignoring consumer demand. Aulaiwi explains the three fundamental problems with command economies: information asymmetries that made central planning impossible, soft budget constraints that eliminated efficiency incentives, and principal-agent problems that led to widespread lying and shirking. He illustrates these concepts through relatable examples, from why you can't buy sheets of steel at a catalogue to how the fictional hero Stakhanov was used to manipulate workers, and explains why Stalin paradoxically became "history's most brutal capitalist" by suppressing consumption to fund industrial investment.The episode concludes with an assessment of Stalin's economic legacy, challenging the common defence that industrialisation was necessary to defeat Nazi Germany. Aulaiwi presents evidence showing that agricultural output actually declined during collectivisation, with Soviet children growing at only 6% the rate of American children by the mid-1930s. He describes Stalin's economy as "an empire of rusting steel and rotting corpses," exemplified by projects like the Belomor Canal where 25,000 prisoners died building a waterway too shallow for real shipping. The conversation demonstrates how Stalin's command economy prioritized impressive-sounding output figures over actual human welfare, producing goods nobody wanted while imposing enormous human costs. Get full access to Institute of Economic Affairs | Insider at insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe
The Institute of Economic Affairs podcast examines some of the pressing issues of our time. Featuring some of the top minds in Westminster and beyond, the IEA podcast brings you weekly commentary, analysis, and debates. insider.iea.org.uk
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