The inevitable death of the euro
byOn Thursday the European Central Bank’s Mario Draghi was moved to defend the euro, after Spain’s government bond yields rose dramatically through the 7%…
Foreword to Liberalism
byIt was a great pleasure and a privilege to be asked by Jeff Tucker of Laissez Faire Books to write this foreword to Liberalism,…
Legacy’s big one
by“Hello London, this is the mayor, and this is the big one.” – Tannoy announcement replayed endlessly over the last month to London commuters…
Caught in a debt trap
byIn October 2010, I wrote in the Amphora Report titled Guess What’s Coming to Dinner: Inflation! that sharply higher agricultural commodity prices were going…
Hiding behind big numbers
byHiding behind the big numbers. One million seconds is 11 days. One billion seconds is 32 years. One trillion seconds is 32,000 years. It…
Broke bank mountain
by“During the 17th century, Scottish investors had noticed with envy the gigantic profits being made in trade with Asia and Africa by the English…
Politicians who promise jam and sweeties today…
byNow that the Euro Crisis Train is arriving back into the station after a short trip away from the front pages, there will shortly…
Euro shorts smell blood
byWithin the eurozone there are great stresses. At one extreme there are punitive costs of borrowing for Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy;…
The monetary policy politburo
byIn a fascinating 30-minute interview, David Stockman – a former Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan – discusses…
Mass exit from poverty
by(co-authored with Bill Glod) Do the poor have too many choices? MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo answer in the affirmative in their…