Over the period 1998-2022 global temperatures remained generally unchanged despite a 14% rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thus contradicting the IPCC's scientific theory of climate change. The IPPC's flawed theory, accepted by most governments, will inevitably lead to mistaken economic policies which will prove both costly and pointless. The UK has taken the most drastic actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels; a series of misguided laws, taxes and subsidies have distorted the free operation of market forces in allocating resources. State intervention in the UK in the pursuit of the Net Zero emission target has resulted in an energy supply industry which is inefficient, expensive, unreliable and unsustainable in the long term - it has inflicted considerable costs on industries and consumers. The IPPC's exhortations for de-carbonisation have had a mixed response across the world - many Western nations have committed to Net Zero targets but most Eastern and developing countries have declined to do so.

Global temperatures for most of the first two decades of the twenty-first century remained on plateau, showing little response to the 13% rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. De-carbonising the world economy, by reducing the burning of fossil fuels, is based on a flawed scientific theory and will have little effect on global temperatures. Climate change policies based on state control of vast sections of the economy, through regulation, green taxation and subsidies, will destroy the free working of market forces and result in a gross misallocation of resources. The overall effect of climate change policies will be to needlessly reduce output, increase prices, impoverish consumers, reduce employment and increase government debt.

Converting official nominal regional GDP data for 2017 to real values, using an approximate deflator for regional price levels, reduced the size of the London economy by 12% or £51 billion. Using real GDP per head as an indicator of prosperity revealed London to be the most prosperous region and Wales the poorest. Real data reduced the inequality between regions by 26% compared to the nominal data. Using real household income per head as an alternative indicator showed London to be the most prosperous region and the North East of England to be the poorest. Real data reduced the inequality between regions by 16% compared to the nominal data. Using the regional unemployment rate as a proxy inverse measure of prosperity produced markedly different results to the financial data. London had high prosperity in financial terms co-existing with a comparatively high unemployment rate. A composite index of prosperity, combining all three indicators with selected weights, revealed London to be the most prosperous region at 33% above the national average and the North East of England to be the poorest at 23% below the national average.

This article provides updated estimates of prosperity in regions of the United Kingdom using two measures - GDP per head and Gross Disposable Household Income per head in 2017. Official nominal data on these two measures is deflated by two approximate regional price indices to yield "real" estimates, allowing for differences in price levels between the regions. In "real" terms, on both measures, London is the most prosperous region by a considerable margin, while Wales and the North East of England are the poorest regions. These "real" estimates give a clear picture of the challenge facing the Government in "levelling up" the performance of the UK regions and the locations where government assistance is most needed.

Analysis of data for the last two decades showed global temperatures on a plateau and little correlation of global temperatures with the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The so-called ‘consensus’ theory of climate change is currently failing to predict correctly and is oversimplistic. Based on a flawed theory, economic policies pursued by the EU and UK to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050 will have little impact on global temperatures. These policies will do considerable damage to national economies resulting in lower economic growth, distorting the allocation of resources, raising energy prices, reducing consumer choice and posing a major threat to stability of electricity supplies.

Large quantities of economic data, varying in accuracy and reliability and subject to later revision, are continually produced and published so interpretation using only one data source is subject to risk. The complex world of data can be simplified by combining different measures of economic performance—economic growth, unemployment and inflation into a single composite index. A composite index of cross-sectional data relating to the economic performance of all of the European Union in 2017 puts Ireland, Romania and Malta in the top three positions, while Germany is ranked 12th. Tracking the UK with the composite index using time-series data shows the impact of the financial crisis in 2008–09 with a gradual improvement in performance which peaks in 2015.

Data for gross disposable household income for each region of the UK are published annually by the Office for National Statistics. The latest provisional data available are for the year 2015. The annual data for household income are in nominal terms only—i.e. they do not allow for differences in prices between regions of the UK, which distorts the results. A reliable deflator to correct the nominal data for differences in inter-regional price levels was derived from the regular survey of prices for calculating the Retail Prices Index, augmented by a special survey of prices of goods and services. When allowing for price level variations between nominal and real household income in different regions the greatest impact is on London. In real terms, household incomes in London are 6% lower than in nominal terms, amounting to a reduction of about £12.4 billion.

The internet has radically changed the purchasing of goods and services leading to a rapid expansion of online retailers and a decline of many traditional shops on the high street. The UK is the leading nation in Europe in terms of online sales, after a remarkable change in consumers’ spending patterns, with a value of £67bn in 2017, 18% of total retail sales. Economists have neglected retailing as a subject area, perhaps reflecting the complexity of its operations, but it is possible to construct a model of retailing by adapting the conventional marginal theory of the firm. Online retailing has benefits—the ability to view, compare and choose products at competitive prices on screen, pay online with fast home delivery—and costs—the disappearance of small local shops with after-sales service.

Real GDP is estimated by applying a price-level estimate or deflator to nominal GDP, but GDP levels in the UK’s 12 inhabited regions are only reported at nominal prices with no allowance for differences in regional prices. A purchasing power parity (PPP) rate for the £ in each region, measuring how much a typical bundle of goods and services would cost, is required to create an accurate index to apply to nominal GDP in order to get real regional values. A solution lies in creating an expenditure-based, weighted, regional price index for consumers’ expenditure, government spending, investment and exports, to adjust nominal data to real price levels. Using imperfect public data, creating an expenditure-based index makes a significant difference to the size of each regional economy and to GDP per capita. In real terms, the London economy shrinks by 12%, the South-East contracts by 2% and all other regions increase in size.

Minimum wage policies are powerful political tools, but the economic effects are unlikely to be in the interests of society as a whole. Wages should be left to the free operation of market forces. Minimum wage rate policies are only effective in low-wage industries: the hotel sector labour market is used to develop the theory of minimum wages under different competitive conditions. The theoretical impact of a government-imposed minimum wage on the firms in an industry depends upon different competitive conditions in product and labour markets, but in most cases the number of firms falls as does the long-term demand for labour. In the UK, the Office of Budget Responsibility estimates that the National Living Wage will cut the total demand for labour hours by 0.4%, a reduction of 4 million hours of work a week causing 60,000 redundancies as a result of increased wage costs.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contends that global warming is largely due to the burning of fossil fuels, leading to increased carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere. This theory is tested with global data from three different periods – the last 1,000 years, the last 120 years and the last 18 years. Two models are specified: firstly, to determine if there was global warming in each period, and secondly, what role CO2 played in this. The results cast significant doubt on the IPCC model and therefore on the wisdom of climate change policies already implemented in many western nations. The economic consequences of these policies is then analysed in the effects on economic activity, energy supply, industrial output, emissions trading, consumer behaviour, and the financial cost of obtaining a global agreement on CO2 emissions. The article notes that the IPCC model is currently failing to predict global temperatures accurately and is too simplistic in its neglect of the natural causes of climate change. Hence, policies enacted by many western nations are likely to impose large costs on their economies, but have little effect on the world’s climate.

This article examines the performance of the British economy since the beginning of the single European currency in 1999, in relation to that of the Eurozone countries. The aim is to consider whether the retention of sterling with the freedom to pursue an independent monetary policy produced a better economic performance. Relative performance between the UK and the Eurozone countries is measured between 1999 and 2014 in terms of inflation, real GDP growth, the government public budget deficit/surplus and total government debt. The evidence indicates that the U.K. outperformed the Eurozone on almost all criteria until 2005, whereas in the following five years this better performance was gradually lost during the period of the global economic and financial crisis. However, since 2010 the UK has again outperformed the Eurozone on most measurements. The poor showing of the UK in the middle period can be attributed to policy failures by the third Labour government resulting in a deterioration in government finances, huge budget deficits and increased government debt. Since 1999 the decision to remain out of the Eurozone appears to have been justified.

This article examines the degree of convergence of the economies of the eurozone since the start of the single currency in 1999. Convergence, both in nominal and real forms, is measured using the coefficient of variation of several economic variables. The results suggest that while there was some convergence on inflation up to 2007, there was no convergence on economic growth, total government debt, budget deficits, unemployment or GDP/head. The financial crisis and global recession of 2007 and 2008 exposed a fault line in so large and diverse a currency union, and this now threatens the long-term future of the euro.