As the rhetoric of ‘new localism’ becomes more commonplace and a raft of freedoms and flexibilities are being introduced for many local authorities, a begging question becomes: ‘How should local government funding in the UK be shaped for the 21st Century?’ The real prospect of elected regional assemblies also raises issues of funding and accountability.

The system for allocating public expenditure to the nations and regions of the UK has never worked properly since the Union of 1707, when Scotland's compensation for joining the Union arrived in Edinburgh in carts guarded by dragoons. Even W.E. Gladstone got it wrong in 1886. Now it has irretrievably broken down. Money goes to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by the notorious Barnett Formula, but this is collapsing and cannot last long. Money goes to the English regions by poorly-understood formulae that work badly. People in every region think that the system is unfair to them.

• First survey of the history of the Union by political scientists
• Timely publication - 2007 will mark the tercentenary of the Union

This is the first survey of Unionism, the ideology of most of the rulers of the United Kingdom for the last 300 years. Because it was taken so much for granted, it has never been properly studied. Now that we stand in the twilight of Unionism, it is possible to see it as it casts its long shadow over British and imperial history since 1707.

Time for Land Value Tax? brings together leading economists and political theorists to explore the case for and against land value taxation.

The editors begin by providing an analysis of developments in post-war economic theory and the relation of this to developments in economic policy in the same period. A growing consensus in theory had filtered through to provide a basis for extremely significant policy initiatives. The highly distinguished contributors in this book address this them in a number of contexts. Peter jay and Alan Budd consider the policy failure of the 1960s and 1970s. Christopher Foster analyses the continuing failures within transport.

Can and should asset-based policies such as universal capital grants become a new pillar of the welfare state? Can they form the basis for a more egalitarian form of market economy? The citizen's stake throws open the debate by bringing together the ideas of leading thinkers in academia and policy to explore the future scope of asset-based policies in Britain.

This book aims to show that Adam Smith (1723-90), the author of The Wealth of Nations, was not the promoter of ruthless laissez-faire capitalism that is still frequently depicted. Smith's "right-wing" reputation was sealed after his death when it was not safe to claim that an author may have influenced the French revolutionaries.

Inheritance tax is under attack, and not just from the political right. The critics of this tax have dominated the debate over recent years but, as the authors of this Fabian pamphlet argue, inheritance tax is one of the best tools we have for tackling inequality and kick starting Britain’s stalled social mobility.