Simon Tilford
Simon Tilford
Associate fellow
Areas of expertise
Britain and Europe, the euro, fiscal and monetary policy, labour and social policy, competition, innovation, environmental economics and demographics.
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There can be no eurozone stability without economic growth
01 April 2010
The German government believes that tougher fiscal rules are the solution to current strains in the eurozone. No doubt such rules are necessary. But they are not enough.
The Lisbon scorecard X: The road to 2020
15 March 2010
The EU's Lisbon agenda has failed to deliver what it promised. Although most member-states have made some progress towards the targets they set themselves in 2000, their commitment to reform has been half-hearted.
Weak carbon prices threaten the EU’s environmental leadership
TGAE report
05 March 2010
The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) works by capping the output of carbon dioxide and then distributing allowances to emit the gas to large energy users.
It’s the economics, stupid
26 February 2010
There was always a risk that a one-size-fits-all monetary policy would lead to big divergences in inflation and competitiveness across the eurozone. This, in turn, would result in trade imbalances which would be difficult to reverse.
Carbon capture and storage: What the EU needs to do
12 February 2010
Coal will be the biggest single source of electricity for decades to come. Yet the EU is doing far too little to encourage the take-up of carbon capture and storage, a technology which could make coal a low-carbon fuel.
The new Commission's economic philosophy
08 February 2010
The broad orientation of the Commission's economic policy is unlikely to change. It will continue to defend the single market, free trade and a tough competition policy.
Sharing the burden of a weaker dollar
01 December 2009
The eurozone has suffered a deep recession – bigger than the US and about as bad as that in the UK. Public finances across the eurozone have worsened dramatically, and in some cases now look perilous.
Rebalancing the Chinese economy
02 November 2009
China's economy and society are undergoing an extraordinary transformation, with hundreds of millions of people escaping poverty in record time. But the country's development model is not sustainable economically or politically.
Greece: Nowhere to hide
08 October 2009
The Greek economy is on a very dangerous course. Unless the government takes steps to boost productivity and strengthen public finances, Greece faces a bleak future.
Talk of 'exit' is premature
22 September 2009
The governor of the Bank of England (BoE), Mervyn King, has had a mixed financial crisis. He assumed that financial stability flowed from monetary stability – which we now know is not the case – and was very slow to recognise the extent of the crisis.