Airport slots
Permission to use a runway at a given time on a given day — worth tens of millions of pounds at Heathrow, and not, technical…
No. 018Domain names
Rented strings of text with no intrinsic value and occasionally seven-figure prices, transferred in minutes rather than mont…
No. 021Event tickets
A time-stamped licence to occupy a seat, resold in a market where the UK has taken an unusually interventionist turn.
No. 040Music royalties
A share of the income a song earns whenever it is streamed, played or licensed — a genuine annuity, priced as a multiple of …
No. 046Patents & intellectual property
Time-limited legal monopolies that can be sold, licensed or enforced — and which are worth nothing at all unless someone is …
No. 048Personalised registrations
A string of characters on a car, sold by the state, held on a retention certificate — Britain’s purest market in pure status.
No. 051Radio spectrum
Licences to transmit on particular frequencies — a finite natural resource, auctioned by the state for billions, and the rea…