Predicting the Unpredictable
About this episode
The episode discusses Dr George Maher's analysis of the 2026 local elections using actuarial methods and by-election data.
In this Institute of Economic Affairs interview, Managing Editor Daniel Freeman speaks with Dr George Maher, Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, former partner at Tillinghast Towers Perrin, and author of Economic Success and Failure in the Roman Empire. The conversation centres on Dr Maher's new IEA Substack paper, Predicting the Unpredictable, which applies actuarial methods to forecast the results of the 2026 local elections using data from 240 council by-elections held in the preceding twelve months. Dr Maher walks through the core findings of his analysis, explaining how the Conservatives held on to just 31% of their seats, Labour to 22%, while the Lib Dems retained eight in ten. Reform, meanwhile, drew its support roughly equally from Conservative and Labour voters. His model proved directionally accurate and in several cases outperformed prominent MRP polling, though the actual local election results saw both Labour and the Conservatives perform better than the by-election data predicted, with the migration to Reform falling short of expectations. The conversation explores why — with theories ranging from small-c conservative bias when the stakes are higher…
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