Academic @ecioxford, Honorary Fellow @IIPP_UCL, Board @Retrofitworks, MD SDC Ltd & #Ecosocialist. 📣: #GreenNewDeal, #Housing, #Energy & #PoliticalEconomy
Oxford/London/Ashburton
Joined January 2013
- Tweets3.6K
- Following2.4K
- Followers1.6K
- Likes1.8K
Pinned Tweet
Out today a report I led with @Cmmonwealth focussed on Electricity Market Reform and how public ownership of low carbon generators could save UK bill payers up to £20bn/year, also see today's Guardian article
theguardian.com/business/202…
💡NEW REPORT💡
The wholesale energy market is not fit for purpose. We examine options for reform to cut bills, eliminate windfall profits, and deliver clean energy.
Our finding is clear: the most direct, cost-effective approach is public ownership.
common-wealth.co.uk/publicat…
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
The new crime survey is out - the "Lawless Britain" picture in full
- Violence at lowest since records began in 1981
- Corroborated by hospital figures for knife wounds
- Robbery: record low
- Overall crime 78% below 1995 peak.
- Shoplifting up
More:-
comment.press/lawless
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
Hi @FT, shouldn't you disclose the fact that Andy is president of the British Chambers of Commerce? Feels critical for the reader to put into perspective his call for tax cuts on businesses? Part of his job is lobbying for them.
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
Neoclassical economists make only two moves.
1. Here are some ideas that are total bollocks.
2. Here's some fancy maths to make them look real.
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
Some things the British media and political class have reacted hysterically to during Israel's genocide:
- The Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban
- Bob Vylan
- Gary Lineker
- The Green Party motion
Something they have not reacted hysterically to:
- The genocide
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
I was 24 in 1979 before this Thatcherite mouthpiece was born. 1970s - trade surplus, secure jobs, affordable housing, functioning dentistry and healthcare etc. Ruined by the failure to deal with the oil crisis. 1980s - a nightmare of deindustrialisation, trade deficits, unemployment, rising house prices, drug markets, rising crime etc. Don't let these liars rewrite history.
Andy Burnham seems to remember a different 1970s to the rest of us. Britain in 1979 was utterly broken - ravaged by unaccountable trade union power, economically stagnant, the sick man of Europe.
The 1980s saw a remarkable national recovery based on free enterprise, the rule of law and championing Western values. And it is this that our Prime Minister rails against…
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
Finally, some reports by other think tanks backing rent controls:
IPPR: ippr.org/articles/housing-co…
JRF: jrf.org.uk/housing/how-tax-r…
NEF: neweconomics.org/2026/05/a-m…
Positive Money: positivemoney.org/uk/publica…
Autonomy: autonomy.work/portfolio/reba…
Common Wealth: common-wealth.org/publicatio…
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
In the coming months I’ll be publishing more (with @BrownSdc and @madeleinepauker) on the detailed design of rent controls – and how they have an essential role to play in tackling the poor quality & energy inefficient nature of PRS homes. Do get in touch if this is of interest!
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
The excerpts in this thread are from my recent report, co-authored w/ @joebeswick1, published by @IIPP_UCL & @NEF, drawing on great work by @IPPR, @genrentuk, @jrf_uk, @Autonomy_Inst, @arunadvaniecon & more – many of whom are also economists! Read it here: ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/publicati…
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
So we conclude that the risks of rent controls are real, but manageable. And they pale against the risks of of continued inaction – entrenched poverty, spiralling public spending and millions of people locked out of housing security.
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
We should expect the landlord lobby to scaremonger. They threatened a mass exodus in response to the Renters Rights Act, rising interest rates and the withdrawal of tax breaks (MITR). And yet the numbers of landlords and PRS dwellings are still rising.
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
Meanwhile that same rent reduction would save renters £2400/yr and govt £2bn/yr in housing benefit spend. It's hard to think of any other policy that could deliver such relief for households most at risk in the current cost of living crisis, whilst saving the government money!
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
Opponents of rent controls typically argue that rent controls would lead to landlords selling up. Of course that presents risks. But it also presents a historic opportunity. Because when a landlord sells, the home does not vanish – only the owner changes!
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
I started looking seriously at rent controls when I realised that even a huge increase in house-building & housing benefit spend wouldn’t touch the sides of this crisis.
(Bear in mind that renters in poorest quintile (5th) spend 63% of income on rent!)
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
It's true that the rent controls in place for most of the 20th century were crude. But they protected tenants from exploitation. And their removal led to the most dramatic deterioration in rental affordability on record.
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
For 30 yrs these supernormal returns and eye-watering margins have fuelled a Buy to Let frenzy: landlords outbidding first-time buyers & pushing up house prices, rather than using their savings to invest in UK productive capacity. Find me an economist who'd call that healthy!
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
This power imbalance also helps explain why returns on landlord equity are considerably higher than in the broader real estate sector.
(Graph from @jrf_uk, based on analysis I worked on with @Autonomy_Inst)
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
Hi @jreynoldsMP, I’m an economist who's come round to rent controls! Here’s why 🧵:
Markets only work well if:
-buyers & sellers have roughly equal power
-producers respond to price signals & expand supply in response to scarcity
-buyers can walk away if prices get too high
.@AyoCaesar: "The one thing the govt could do to improve the lives of young people is introduce some rent controls"
@jreynoldsMP: "No economist supports rent controls"
There you have it. Are you a young person trapped paying exorbitant rent? The Labour govt says f**k you.
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
None of these conditions hold in the private rented sector. Shelter is non-substitutable. Few renters can 'exit the market' without becoming homeless. And decades of record-high rents & house prices haven't sparked the building boom neoclassical theory predicts.
Dr Donal Brown retweeted
The result is an inherent power imbalance that many landlords have exploited.
This helps to explain why the average mortgaged landlord enjoys profit margins more than 5x the average UK business. (Profit margins for landlords without a mortgage – the majority – are bigger still)
