Articles

The pound is a poison pill for an independent Scotland

Currency is a confidence trick: its value depends entirely on the belief that it has value.

When capitalism and corporate self-interest collide

Adam Smith had not imagined a world in which the Wealth of Nations would cross the world digitally at the click of a mouse. Nor had he envisaged one in which legislation would be drafted by paid lobbyists.

A real market economy ensures that greed is good

Our intuition is that a centrally planned allocation of resources will be more efficient than an uncoordinated one. In a market economy, that error constantly leads us to overestimate the economic advantages, and longevity, of large companies.

Let’s talk about the market economy

Modern titans derive their authority and influence from their position in a hierarchy, not their ownership of capital.

Avoiding fluff is surest route to success

Good strategy begins with diagnosis. And diagnosis is analysis, not a description of symptoms. You don’t go to your doctor to be told you have a sore throat.

In love as in equities, we are fooled by randomness

This year I wrote that if men think about sex on average every seven seconds, the average man last thought about sex three and a half seconds ago. But neither love nor equity markets are so predictable.

Spontaneity or slogans: the lessons of Václav Havel’s greengrocer

Thirty years before Havel, George Orwell identified the corrupting influence of discourse based on the repetition of pre-packaged phrases. A corrupting influence not just on language but on society itself.

Taverna talk of fiscal union will remain just that

Financial markets are an effective discipline on profligate individuals and states because markets cannot easily be bullied or lobbied, and their threat to make the cost of funds prohibitive is effective.

Horses for courses: picking market models

What would an economist do if he wanted to study horses? He would go to his study and think “what would I do if I were a horse?”

A wise man knows one thing – the limits of his knowledge

Good models are simplifications, not black boxes whose workings are incomprehensible even to their operators.