The IEA’s Head of Health and Welfare Dr Kristian Niemietz discusses the UK’s national treasure- also known as the National Health Service. In the wake of yet another winter crisis, Kristian explains how other countries manage to avoid system shutdowns every year, mainly through the use of market mechanisms that lead to better efficiencies, and in turn, better patient outcomes. Interviewed by the IEA’s News Editor Kate Andrews, Kristian also addresses the issue of funding, noting that more cash can lead to a more generous healthcare system, but it is not obvious that it would help to solve the bread-and-butter issues facing the NHS, like A&E waiting times and cancer survival rates. Kristian lays out his ideal healthcare system, which he thinks could be a legitimate contender for ‘envy of the world’.
Guests: Dr Kristian Niemietz
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In our first podcast of 2018, we look at one of the most critical areas in public policy – housing. The Institute of Economic Affairs’s Kristian Niemietz and former Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute Ben Southwood discuss the housing shortage, its supply-side nature and the politics which underpin it. Interviewed by the IEA’s Kate Andrews, the pair examine the historical origins of the housing crisis, which date back to legislation introduced under Clement Attlee’s government in the 1940s. They also look at the well-organised NIMBY movement (short for “Not In My Back Yard”), and its influence on government policy.
Guests: Kristian Niemietz,Ben Southwood
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What do Momentum and Moggmentum have in common? Find out in our round-up of 2017, featuring the IEA’s Director General Mark Littlewood and Communications Director Stephanie Lis. Interviewed by the IEA’s News Editor Kate Andrews, the three discuss the state of the Brexit negotiations, the problems in Parliament, Donald Trump’s America, and predictions for 2018.
Guests: Mark Littlewood,Stephanie Lis
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In this special Christmas edition, we look back at some of the most interesting topics discussed in 2017. Join the IEA’s News Editor Kate Andrews, along with Head of Education Dr Steve Davies, as they discuss the future of Intellectual Property Rights, how technology could help us feed the world, and the possibility of humans living until 700 years of age.
Guests: Dr Steve Davies
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Left-wing movements in Britain, and further afield, are increasingly citing the Scandinavian or Nordic economic model as a desirable alternative to capitalism. But is Scandinavian socialism really all its cracked up to be? Today, Dr Steve Davies and Kate Andrews of the IEA put the Nordic model under the spotlight – and examine to what extent these countries are indeed socialist, or even ‘left wing’.
Guests: Dr Steve Davies
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The 8th of November marks the centenary of the October Revolution, which transformed Russia and reshaped the course of history. 100 years on, the IEA’s Kristian Niemietz and Madeline Grant discuss what lessons, if any, we’ve learnt from socialism’s history of around the world; from the Soviet Union, to Cuba, to Venezuela. Kristian also traces the complicated relationship left-wing Western intellectuals have had with socialist regimes – and examines whether the right has also been, historically, guilty of similar revisionism.
Guests: Kristian Niemietz,Madeline Grant
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