Most Popular Books by Paul Ormerod

We consider the resilience of a group of 20 Western economies after the financial crisis of the late 2000s. We measure resilience by the growth of real GDP between 2007, the previous peak level, and 2015. The countries exhibit a broad range of experience, from a rise in GDP of 18 per cent in Australia to a fall of 26 per cent in Greece. A substantial proportion of the differences in growth rates can be accounted for by just two variables: the perceived level of corruption and membership of the Eurozone. The euro did have a negative impact on the recovery paths of the Mediterranean economies (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain), but their perceived corruption scores in 2007 had a bigger impact, especially on the first three of these economies.

In 1949, Hayek attributed the dominant position of planning in the West to the role of intellectuals, by which he meant ''professional second-hand dealers in ideas'' such as journalists and commentators. Later in the twentieth century, we saw a similar phenomenon: particular social ideas, although frequently falsified empirically, have come to dominate through the efforts of intellectuals. This paper addresses how a small minority can set so decisively the terms of the debate. Hayek conjectured that this was the case, but did not specify the mechanism by which this can occur. Recent advances in network theory about how ideas can either spread across, or disappear in, a social network of individuals can explain this phenomenon. The implication of Hayek''s insight, validated by modern network theory, is that think tanks should seek to influence ''professional second-hand dealers in ideas'' rather than adopt the naïve democratic principle of trying to persuade individual voters.

Towards a Liberal Utopia? is a free-market manifesto for the next fifty years covering a diverse range of policy areas, including health, education, social security, pensions, labour markets, tax policy, Europe and the environment. In addition to these visions of the future, Ralph Harris describes the success of the IEA in changing the climate of opinion in its first 50 years. Given the impact that the ideas of IEA authors have had on policy-making in the last 50 years - for example in trade union reform, removal of exchange and rent controls, the control of inflation, independence of central banks and the development of road user charging - Towards a Liberal Utopia? is essential reading for those keen to learn about the ideas that should dominate the policy agenda in the coming decades.

Includes statistics.

In spite of general reductions in government spending, the prime minister has found room in the government''s budget to spend money on a major survey of what makes the British people happy. This will be used, in the prime minister''s own words, to guide government policy towards improvement in general wellbeing rather than improvements in national income. But is it really true that government policy has always been orientated towards maximizing GDP? Is it true that wellbeing does not increase as income increases? Is it true that more equal societies are happier societies? Can we really improve wellbeing through workplace legislation? Is it right to orientate government policy towards the single aim of increasing aggregate wellbeing across society as a whole? These questions and many more are tackled by some of the leading intellectuals in the field. Overall, this monograph provides a substantial challenge to those who want to put the explicit pursuit of wellbeing at the heart of government policy.

Many of the problems in the British public sector directly relate to the attempt to create a world fit for the central planner in which all tasks can be set down in a system of rules. The philosophy of ''empirical consequentialism'' underpins this entire venture. This is the view that the empirically-proven consequences of an action are the most valid basis for moral judgment of the action and that these can be fully evaluated through expert research rather than democratic dialogue. A crucial policy challenge is to restore the value of ''tacit knowledge'' in the public sector, allowing individuals to exercise choice and judgment responding to feedback in a process of trial and error.

"Abstract: A list of all Orchidaceae recorded for Myanmar is presented, primarily based on many years of research in herbaria and libraries around the world, supplemented by recent fieldwork in various parts of Myanmar. As such, it is intended to form the basis for a treatment of Orchidaceae in the new flora of Myanmar project. A total of 1037 species in 152 genera is listed, which includes a number of uncertain identifications and indicates the need for further research. In addition, for four taxa occurrence in Myanmar is also suspected, but the available herbarium and literature information is not conclusive in this regard. The total number is comparatively low relative to neighbouring Thailand but expected to rise, given the fact that bio-diversity is currently poorly understood even though extensive inventory efforts are now under way. In the introduction, the orchid flora of Myanmar, phytogeographical affinities and endemism are discussed and illustrated by graphs and tables. Each species entry in the taxonomic section consists of the name, place of original description, type information (if from Myan-mar), list of citations of Myanmar specimens examined and global distribution; specific notes under many species elaborate various taxonomic issues. Two new combinations are made here, and five lectotypes and one neotype are designated. Six species are definite new distribution records for Myanmar, whereas identification of another three needs to be confirmed"--Page 5.