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Alasdair Smith

@alasdairmsmith.bsky.social
2.5K followers 1K following 620 posts

Trade economist at Sussex (UKTPO and CITP); ex-VC University of Sussex; member of Competition Appeal Tribunal. So I have views on trade, and higher education (also fiscal sustainability, and pensions), but no views on anything to do with competition.

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Reposted by Alasdair Smith
Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Woke up and realised that even before the final sacking next week that my university now employs more people with English Literature PhDs in administration than in the English department. Tells you something about the state of HE.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
www.theguardian.com/politics/202... I’d guess the two universities in Lincoln would benefit from increased EU student numbers at UK fees.
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Reposted by Alasdair Smith
Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 03/08/2026
Opinion: On the surface, the dispute was simply about the governance of the world’s most popular sport. But the geopolitical subtext is unmissable. ft.trib.al/LagpUf5
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Clear and compelling advice.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Is “builging” a typo or an appropriate neologism. From: www.standard.co.uk/business/pro...
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Of course UK has to face the realities about EU re-accession. But the view here is odd in this context. Implies that EU single market services regulation and free movement of workers are burdens that have to be borne by member states; rather than benefits the UK is willing to forgo.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Does no one else remember that (Ashton-in-)Makerfield played an earlier role in Labour Party history as the location of a politically connected slag heap?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Expensive property bought by non-UK “oligarch”; council tax paid by occupant of property. Could this policy miss its target?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Academics will agree with Clare (“they” refers to Editors)
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
The tanker skippers are getting past the blockade with an FT subscription?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
My podcast debut.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
If you listen to this (excellent) programme on BBC Sounds, at the end you’ll hear a disconcerting news bulletin about a government resignation, from Rishi Sunak”s government!
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Read, and admit you had to look up the meaning of “oneiric”
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
A paradigmatic example of the mistaken prioritisation of “research” over teaching. Cross-subsidise research from student fees, and penalise academics who prioritise teaching.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
“Restricting access to UK universities for outstanding students from these countries risks undermining this legacy and diminishing the UK’s standing as a trusted partner in international development.” (Sasha Roseneil)
researchprofessionalnews.com
Sussex VC warns of ‘profound consequences’ from study visa ban - Research Professional News
Sasha Roseneil appeals to parliamentarians over suspension of visas for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
What does speeding up delays mean?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
USTR suggests EU could just ignore the fact that the US has reneged on the deal he helped negotiate.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Imagine the Attlee government in 1950 expelling Claus Moser, Hans Krebs, Ernest Gellner, Frank Hahn, Sigmund Warburg, Herman Bondi, and three of the Amadeus Quartet www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Support good teaching by incentivising research? How to identify research-intensive universities?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
If London reduces the ‘affordable’ target, the price of development land will rise and there will be no boost to house building.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Why do “senior no 10 figures” spend their time briefing this sort of stuff? Doesn’t serve good government but maybe is self-serving? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Keir Starmer to release new peerage list in attempt to bolster Lords influence
PM hopes list of Labour allies promoted to upper house will rebalance numbers and drive through legislation
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Perceptions have real effects www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-insti...
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Members of my family were tortured and killed in the Holocaust because countries like Britain said it wasn't their problem. Everyone said never again. And here we are. It's sickening beyond belief.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
IKEA Brighton joins the metropolitan birdshit trend.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
As everyone says, a brilliant piece. But since Kenny Smith is from the east side of the Isle of Lewis, I would like to be sure he’s not related to my west-side Smith grandfather.
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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Hi all, just sent this out. Trump and Putin tried hard to corner Zelensky and put him in a terrible position. In return he has shown that the best way to deal with both bullies is to stand up to them and dont play by their rules. It’s a lesson Europe must learn now. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
open.substack.com
The Right Way To Deal With Trump
What Trump and Putin Were Doing and How Zelensky Wrong-Footed Them
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Laura Pascal @pascallaura.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
A must read: @sonia-sodha.bsky.social in the Observer today www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The Observer view on Equality Act ruling: A dignified compromise that respects the rights of everyone | Editorial
The supreme court judgment gives protections to women at the same level as other groups
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forstater.bsky.social @forstater.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
16th April 2025, the day women in the UK got their rights back.
Marion Calder and Susan Smith from For Women Scotland outside the Supreme Court
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Because I'd worked with Truss I knew there really was nothing there at all. But it was so hard to get people to accept it. "She must have something because she's about to become PM". Nope, not at all. That's not how it works.
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UK Trade Policy Observatory @uktpo.org · 04/04/2025
"Trump tells the American people that tariffs are a tax on foreigners. However, his own USTR disagrees and assumes that a significant burden falls on American consumers." - Our latest blog examines the USTR's analysis accompanying Trump's tariff announcement: www.uktpo.org/2025/04/04/w...
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
My take on what’s wrong with the USTR analysis of Trump’s tariffs: www.uktpo.org/2025/04/04/w...
uktpo.org
What’s wrong with the USTR analysis of worldwide protection?
The analysis by the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) that accompanies President Trump’s tariff announcement on 2 April is so profoundly wrong that one might (almost) feel sorry for the UST...
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Reposted by Alasdair Smith
Alan White @aljwhite.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Sussex’s VC has written for us about the “Kafkaesque” OFS finding that led to the uni getting a record fine
politicshome.com
Vice Chancellor Attacks 'Politically Motivated' Investigation After University Gets Record Fine Over Free Speech Row
The vice chancellor of Sussex University has accused the higher education regulator of 'partisan scapegoating' after the university was fined over ...
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Must-read letter from Columbia academic lawyers about government demands: open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz...
open.substack.com
Chartbook 362 What should be Columbia University's legal answer to the extortionate & unconstitutional demands of the Trump administration.
With thanks to my colleagues Andrias, Bulman-Pozen, Greene, Johnson, Kessler, Metzger and Pozen
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Not yet passed on, but in the Sunday Times which CCHQ does not read?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Question for macroeconomists: spending from frozen/stranded assets does not increase borrowing or tax, so is it equivalent to monetary expansion?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Someone should write a thesis on the use of ‘Australian-style’ to sell political proposals in UK
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Resisting the protection racketeers as well as the Russian aggressors.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Surely Ukraine’s real allies need to support it against this protection racketeering?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Powerful pessimism from @rafaelbehr.bsky.social; especially the final sentence.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
A good one-sentence summary of why universities’ response to the 2012 fee rise was a disaster.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Good article, but is this true of Victorian Britain? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
“unclear”; really?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
What could possibly go wrong?
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Since the EU proposals on youth mobility are consistent with the red lines, the government should be happy to look at them too.
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Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
This paper by the late, great Nick Crafts, on competition and productivity in the UK, well worth a read: cepr.org/voxeu/column...
cepr.org
Competition cured the “British Disease”
Britain’s relative economic decline throughout the 20th century – the so-called “British disease” – was a national embarrassment that only went away in the 1980s. This column presents new research showing that competition provided the cure. Only when Britain returned to a regime of competition and openness similar to that which had prevailed before World War I did productivity growth resume.
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Lewes castle, midday today
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Alasdair Smith @alasdairmsmith.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
Excellent entry by The Economist into the competition for the most ludicrous moderation decision by Bluesky. But I think @naomicunningham.bsky.social is still in the lead.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
"It's impossible not to know what's going on in Gaza..it threatens to stain Jewish history forever". ‪ A moving piece by distinguished Israeli economists Ariel Rubinstein (NYU/Tel Aviv) [ @arielrubinstein.bsky.social ] and Motty Perry (Warwick). [Correct non-paywalled link here]
arielrubinstein.org
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