What actually caused the 2008 GFC? @iealondon

Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

📉 "The tales, the narratives that we tell ourselves about recessions have all the classic ingredients of a good story... greedy bankers."

Tyler Goodspeed on what the 2008 story gets wrong.

$Tax Rises Built a Black Market. Britain Is Next. | IEA Interview In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Dr Christopher Snowdon speaks with Rohan Pike, a former Australian Federal Police officer and ex-Australian Border Force official who spent his final years in public service working on illicit tobacco. The conversation looks at the Laffer Curve as a real world example, using Australia’s tobacco duty, where revenue has fallen from $16 billion to $4 billion even as tax rates climbed. They discuss how taxation pushed past the point where higher rates raise less money, and what that means for smokers, the public purse and crime. Pike sets out how the illicit market has grown to around 80% of all tobacco sold in Australia, with the illicit vape market above 95%. He explains how tax of roughly $1.53 per cigarette, about £17 a packet before sales tax, opened a gap that organised crime moved to fill, with black market packets selling for a fraction of the legal price. The discussion covers the violence that has followed, including murders and hundreds of fire bombings, the rise of a multi-billion dollar criminal syndicate, and why enforcement at the border can only ever stop a small share of what comes through. The second half turns to Britain. Snowdon and Pike argue that the UK is only a few years behind Australia, pointing to high tobacco duty, the tax escalator, the planned vape tax and official figures that they say understate the size of the illicit trade. Pike argues that the answer is not tougher enforcement alone but lower excise, consistent enforcement and an honest approach to harm reduction, contrasting Australia’s stance on vaping with the position taken in the UK and New Zealand. He closes with a warning for the Treasury and for ministers that the same path leads to the same result. The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.$

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$Andy Burnhams First Week as Prime Minister | IEA Podcast In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, IEA Director of Communications Callum Price is joined by Director General Lord Hannan and Head of Lifestyle Economics Dr Christopher Snowdon to discuss the first days of Andy Burnham’s premiership, Britain’s welfare crisis, and the reshuffle at the Department of Energy and Net Zero. The conversation opens with Burnham’s early policy moves, including the VAT cut on domestic fuel and the bus fare cap, before turning to the wider economic philosophy behind “Burnhamism” and its scepticism of 1980s privatisation. Lord Hannan and Dr Snowdon debate whether Burnham can govern within his own fiscal rules and backbench pressures, and whether an early general election is now more likely than markets expect. The discussion then turns to Britain’s welfare bill, examining why nearly one in four Britons now claim some form of disability, the incentives created by the benefits system since the pandemic, and the case for reform. The episode closes with a look at the new Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero following Ed Miliband’s move to the Foreign Office, and what her background at the New Economics Foundation could mean for North Sea licensing, fracking, and the future of Britain’s net zero strategy. The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support to any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.$

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