Larpnet

Economics | Infrastructure | Reforming rail: Changing industry, changing regulation

2011-10-15T00:42:00.002+01:00

Office of Rail Regulation Chief Executive Richard Price today outlined some of the key challenges emerging from Sir Roy McNulty's rail value for money review and how these are being reflected in priorities for the rail regulator.

Speaking at a rail industry event Richard Price identified the following challenges:
- the need for greater transparency on funding flows and costs across the sector.
- assuring delivery of current performance commitments and safety standards during a period of industry change.
- successful delivery of the 2013 periodic review and ensuring that this provides effective incentives across the sector.
- ensuring that industry reform, including Network Rail's devolution and changes to rail franchises, delivers real and lasting benefits to rail users and taxpayers.

www.larpnet.com/economics/infrastructure

Economics | Environment | The value in environmental valuation

2011-10-14T18:39:00.002+01:00

The UK has been at the forefront in using new techniques to shape policy decisions which affect the environment. On the publication of the UK's Natural Ecosystem Assessment, Mallika Ishwaran, Jonathan Portes and Richard Price make the case for valuing the environment as part of a better approach to informing policy decisions for environmental protection, linking science and economics, and reflecting the pervasive role the environment has to play in economic and social activity.

The value in environmental valuation

www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Coming next on Larpnet

2011-09-04T21:20:00.004+01:00

Larp is back in red for the winter... coming up in the next weeks - ecosystems services - the value of valuation - the economics of green growth - infrastructure performance - Font of the Month - the grand finale of the 2011 League of Shirts. Thrills unbounded!

http://www.larpnet.com/

http://www.larpnet.it/

Economics | Environment | Shifting to green growth

2011-09-04T21:15:00.003+01:00

Can growth be green? Nwe analysis from the UK shows than shifting to a greener path for economic growth need not cost much, but the policy mix needs to be chosen carefully to minimise adjustment costs, and to recognise that those who stand to lose out need a stake in the change.

http://www.larpnet.com/downloads/greengrowthslides201108.pdf

Sport | League of Shirts

2011-08-07T00:37:00.019+01:00

The 2011 season of the League of Shirts is off to a splendid start, with Norwich City leading the Week 1 table by a massive 1 point. The rules and tables can be found at the official LoS pages on Larpnet (click below). Meanwhile for the first time chat and background on the League can be found on our own Facebook page.

larpnet.com/sports/leagueofshirts
facebook.com/leagueofshirts

Economics | Environment | Resource efficiency in business

2011-07-15T04:45:00.002+01:00

Businesses can take low-cost practical steps to reduce resource use, promoting economic growth and environmental performance. By cutting costs, businesses get a significant pay-back in the short term, with innovation able to cut their costs further over time. Research by Defra finds that British businesses could save up to £23 billion a year by adopting energy, waste and water efficiency measures which pay back within a year.
larpnet.com/economics/environment

Economics | Infrastructure | Rail regulator sets challenges for rail delivery

2011-07-15T02:38:00.003+01:00

In a speech at the London launch of the Periodic Review of Network Rail's charges, funding and outputs, Richard Price sets out the challenges of efficiency and reform facing Britain's railways between now and 2020, and the pressure to achieve greater value for money as, for the first time in generations, the railways meet sustained growth for their services.

larpnet.com/economics/infrastructure

Economics | Infrastructure | Regulator warns rail industry to reduce costs

2011-07-01T22:40:00.007+01:00

The railway industry is “on notice” that it has to cut costs to continue receiving recent levels of government investment, according to the new head of the industry’s regulator. Richard Price, who takes over on Monday as chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation, was speaking in the wake of the McNulty review, which said costs could be cut by 20 to 30 per cent over the next eight years. See full article in the FT by clicking here.

larpnet.com/economics/infrastructure

Economics | Institutions and performance | Social impacts of policy

2011-04-07T09:23:00.006+01:00

The UK's Social Impacts Taskforce has developed a conceptual framework for guiding work on understanding the relationships between the social impacts of policies, their effects on a country's underlying manufactures, human, environmental and social capital, and implications for wellbeing.

larpnet.com/economics/institutionsandperformance

Economics | Environment | Green growth: selecting policy instruments

2011-03-04T12:00:00.006Z

As part of its work for the G20 on Green Growth, the OECD held a workshop to discuss its Green Growth Strategy in February 2011, involving all OECD member states and a number of NGOs. The Strategy seeks to provide tools for a shift towards a more sustainable development path, while identifying economic opportunities and benefits of going in that direction. Defra’s Chief Economist, Richard Price, was invited to lead the workshop session on policy instruments for green growth, and this paper set the context.

larpnet.com/economics/environment

Arts | Design | Classics of modern design

2011-01-29T01:28:00.008Z

Classics of modern design is back - this week with "one of the purest expressons of Bauhaus theory: geometrical shapes and industrial materials with no concessions to decoration or frivolity". What is it?

larpnet.com/design/classics

Economics | Environment | Wellbeing and the environment

2011-01-29T01:23:00.007Z

In a speech to the Prime Minister's Wellbeing Conference in November 2010, Richard Price explains the links between the environment and wellbeing, and how taking a consistent approach to understanding environmental costs and benefits across all policy areas can best safeguard the environment for this and future generations. Assessing environmental and social impacts on wellbeing is at the heart of policy design in the UK, is based on evidence and innovation, and makes a real difference to policy.

larpnet.com/economics/environment

Sports | League of Shirts

2010-08-14T23:44:00.009+01:00

It's back! And it really is, genuinely, quite bad. The Summer League of Shirts 'definitively' tracks the fortunes of football teams as measured by the global reach of their merchandise, or at least how much of it has reached a tiny corner of Italy. As they say, apparently: "Check it".
www.larpnet.com/sports/leagueofshirts

Economics | Environment | Economics of sustainable development

2010-07-11T14:22:00.003+01:00

The UK Government Economic Service's final report on the economics of sustainable development is published this week, including findings on how to take sustainability into account in advice on the relative merits of different policies and in social cost-benefit analysis.

www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

and www.larpnet.com/environment

Larpnet | Blue hue

2010-07-03T17:39:00.005+01:00

As the Grand Depart of the Tour de France marks the official start of summer, Larpnet takes on a seasonal cooling shade of blue (the colour of the Bay of Naples off Ischia, to be precise).

www.larpnet.com/ -- www.larpnet.it/

Arts | Design | Font of the month

2010-06-25T23:46:00.005+01:00

It's Font of the Month time again. But what is it this time? Think London... and visit our design pages to find out one of the UK's iconic fonts.

www.larpnet.com/design/fontofthemonth

Aberafan | Duffryn Yard

2010-06-24T23:58:00.004+01:00

This minisite looks at the history, development and decline of Duffryn Yard, originally part of the Port Talbot Railway and a busy engine shed and freight yard serving Port Talbot docks and the valleys around Port Talbot in the early 20th Century. www.larpnet.com/duffryn

Aberafan | Things to do in and around Aberafan

2010-06-24T23:47:00.006+01:00

Amazing how the environment recovers in a partly-post-industrial landscape. Our new and improved Aberafan site went live today, including a list of splendid things to do in the area around Aberafan and Port Talbot itself, the surrounding countryside, and around the bay to Swansea and the Mumbles. The smell of sulphur lingers around the steel works, but the air in the valleys is mainly fresh these days, and there is plenty to do outdoors.

www.larpnet.com/aberafan

Economics | Environment | Growth and the Environment: Opportunities and a Warning

2010-03-22T23:19:00.002Z

In this speech Richard Price identifies opportinities for environmental economics to help raise economic and environmental performance, squaring aspirations for prosperity and growth with the importance of environmental assets; and warns against sloppy thinking on the challenges of growth.

www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Economics | Environment | Economic Growth and the Environment

2010-03-21T17:24:00.003Z

This paper, by Tim Everett, Mallika Ishwaran, Gian Paolo Ansaloni and Alex Rubin, explores the complex relationship between the natural environment and economic growth, including the importance of the environment in supporting and enabling economic activity and the different drivers that affect environmental quality as the economy grows. It makes the case for sustainable economic growth, managing the use and provision of natural assets in a way that ensures their availability for future generations. Finally, it identifies the range of policy responses the government can use to enable this shift to a sustainable economy, and the potential opportunities and economic impacts in the near- and long-term.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Economics | Environment | Adapting to climate change

2010-03-19T12:58:00.004Z

This paper, by Federica Cimato and Michael Mullan, is the first in Defra's new Evidence and Analysis Series. It explains how a number of barriers to adaptation (market failures, behavioural barriers, adaptive capacity, natural capacity) may affect adaptation decisions, and provides a framework for considering the Government’s role and identifies implications for policy design. It also identifies the priority areas for future research on the economics of adaptation.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Arts | Design | Font of the month

2010-01-17T01:08:00.005Z

This month sees the return of our exciting Font of the Month. But what will it be?
www.larpnet.com/design/fontofthemonth

London | Highbury and Islington

2009-10-28T16:17:00.002Z

News on the station forecourt work at Highbury and Islington, the planned removal of the 'temporary' Post Office building, and the less welcome eviction of some of the station's other traders.

www.larpnet.com/highburyandislington

Economics | Public sector reform | Flexible staff resourcing in central government

2009-10-25T16:34:00.006Z

The Multi-tasking Methodology
Civil Service World, 10 September 2009

Defra has taken a leap into the unknown and abandoned the directorate structure that characterises Whitehall. The impetus for this rethink, says performance programme director Richard Price (also Defra’s chief economist), was the struggle to deliver the “rising expectations of ministers, the public and customers” in the face of a “steadily reducing headcount” - Gershon’s efficiency review recommended the loss of 2,400 staff). Ruth Keeling finds out about flexible staff resourcing – and its potential to cull consultants and short-term contracts.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/publicsectorreform
and: http://www.civilservicenetwork.com/hubs/hr/hr-features-article/newsarticle/the-multi-tasking-methodology/

Economics | Environment | Economics of sustainable development report published

2009-10-25T16:20:00.004Z

The GES Review of the Economics of Sustainable Development was published this week. See our environment page in economics for details. The report takes a skeptical view of the current debate on sustainability, and finds a more fruitful approach in identifying the information decision-makers need on the social and environmental impacts of potential policies and investment projects.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Economics | Environment | Review of sustainable development

2009-05-27T14:25:00.004+01:00

Sustainable development: what does it mean, how can it affect decision-making, and can economics help?

In this paper, Richard Price examines the roots of sustainable development, and questions the usefulness of the many definitions and uses of the concept that have sprung up since the 1970s. He finds that the concept is often unhelpful in addressing policy questions, and that it is undermined by a lot of well-meaning but flawed thinking. He explores how the concept might be tightened up to give a useful guide to the choices faced when using environmental assets to deliver policy objectives. The paper sets the context for his review of the economics of sustainable development for the UK's Government Economic Service.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Arts | Design | Classics of modern design

2009-05-27T13:54:00.004+01:00

The first page in our Design section - inspired by Jonathan Glancy's series in The Guardian. We pick one of our favourites from Jonathan's long backlist - the Class 47 diesel locomotive.

See: http://www.larpnet.com/design/classics

Economics | Environment | Making the right choices for our future: An economic framework for designing policies to reduce carbon emissions

2009-03-20T00:29:00.002Z

Defra and DECC have published (March 2009) a joint document setting out economic principles for use in selecting and designing policies to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. It will be especially useful to policy makers and those with and interest in the UK Government’s economic approach to tackling climate change.

“Making the right choices for our future” is a timely statement of principles as the Government considers the advice of the Committee on Climate Change on the level of the budgets and how they might be met. It helps policymakers to make sure that the our approach to tackling climate change goes hand in hand with a strong economic recovery in the UK, and with sustained, low-carbon growth in the coming decades.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Blue for you

2008-07-05T11:27:00.005+01:00

To celebrate the start of Summer, formally marked by the first stage of the Tour de France, today the Larp website takes on a cooling oceanic kind of blue (in fact it's the Bay of Naples, just off Ischia Porto). The site will go red again at the start of September.

Economics | Enterprise, regulation and the business environment

2008-05-06T20:38:00.010+01:00

Our Enterprise, regulation and business environment pages have been launched, with links to work since 2001 on policy to raise levels of entrepreneurship in the UK by creating an enterprise culture, tackling barriers to finance particularly for small firms with prospects of rapid growth, and tackling regulatory burdens.

The page also covers work on microeconomic policy responses to prepare the UK to gain from globalisation.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/enterprise

Economics | Environment | Cutting carbon and sustaining growth:

2008-05-05T02:11:00.003+01:00

A new paper 'Cutting carbon and sustaining growth: the importance of valuing and trading carbon' has been published on our Environment page.

This speech - to the UK Network of Environmental Economists' Annual Conference (at The Royal Society, London, March 2008) - sets out the links between the economics of climate change and UK policy. It argues that it is nonsense to treble the current value of the shadow price of carbon, as some have argued, as the arguments for doing so effectively assume that the UK will act alone in tackling climate change. It also points to the creation of global markets in carbon, including the use of international credits towards UK emissions goals, as an imperative to generate capital flows to finance low-carbon technologies around the world on the scale required to avoid dangerous climate change.

The full paper is downloadable from Larpnet.com - go to www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

New improved Larpnet.com and Larpnet.it

2008-01-19T11:53:00.015Z

Our new site is up and running, with better, cleaner graphics and easier navigation.

- our economics pages are subdivided by subject making it easier to get to what you want;
- new content on the economics of the environment and climate change;
- there is a 'you are here' panel on each page so you can see where you are;
- you can now subscribe to get updates by e-mail when we put up new stuff; and
- for typeface fans, the new graphics make more use of Helvetica - hooray!

Some of our old cities and travel pages have been removed for now. We'll be updating and replacing them in the next few months.

Onward and upward,

Your pals at LARP.

See: www.larpnet.com/ and www.larpnet.it/

Larpnet Updates

2008-01-13T02:09:00.001Z

If you want them, you can subscribe to be told by e-mail about updates to the Larpnet sites when they happen, via Feedblitz.