 The thesis that all government need do is create the institutions of
private property and markets will take care of the rest is one of the most pernicious doctrines of our times. FT, 5.9.01  |
Kudos for the contrarian (Financial Times 30 December 2008) Some economists believe there is a deep underlying structure from which laws of economic behaviour that are universal in time and space can be deduced. I think that search is a wild goose chase. The titans’ inability to say sorry (Financial Times 17 December 2008) It would be consoling to believe that the titans of finance know in their hearts they are at fault, but are advised not to admit it. However, mostly they do not express regret because they do not feel it. Some companies are too powerful to fail (Financial Times 10 December 2008) Few things corrode business efficiency and effective markets more insidiously than the discovery that it is more profitable to win the favour of politicians than to win the approval of customers. The east’s innovators are no threat to the west (Financial Times 03 December 2008) Commercial and economic success, even in technological industries, depends not on the quality of technology, but on the match between technology and the needs of its customers. Blown off course by butterflies (Financial Times 26 November 2008) Economic crystal ball-gazing remains unscientific. We project current preoccupations with exaggerated speed and to an exaggerated degree and forget that our preoccupations change. A passive approach to bank stakes is inadequate (Financial Times 26 November 2008) The primary purpose of government investment in financial institutions is not to ensure that the taxpayer gets its money back – although that issue should certainly not be neglected – but to ensure that ordinary banking functions operate well. Obama is right to opt for pragmatism (Financial Times 19 November 2008) The blunt truth is that free markets are not a particularly efficient system for allocating resources. They are just – like democracy – more efficient than other systems and – unlike democracy – more innovative than other systems. Friedman and the limits of academic pluralism (Financial Times 12 November 2008) Pluralism is the mark of intellectual seriousness: recognition of the force of a wide range of arguments with which one does not agree. Equitable Life’s lessons for the bank crisis (Financial Times 05 November 2008) We seek regulators more competent than their private sector counterparts, we ask them to review not just procedure but also strategy, we expect the taxpayer to take financial responsibility for their failures. There is a name for that policy. It is nationalisation. Could Napoleon have coped in a credit crunch? (Financial Times 29 October 2008) The financial innovation that was once the means of spreading risk is now an unmanageable source of instability. Surplus capital is not for wimps after all (Financial Times 22 October 2008) John explains why capital is the stuff you have to protect yourself and why banks can never have enough of it. Banks got burned by their own ‘innocent fraud’ (Financial Times 15 October 2008) There are only a few basic kinds of deception and self-deception in finance. John illustrates some of the key mechanisms. Public assistance must protect the taxpayer (Financial Times 08 October 2008) Mr Paulson has taken the bad bank for US taxpayers and left shareholders with the good bank. Mr Darling should do the opposite Why pain is good – in both medicine and finance (Financial Times 01 October 2008) John describes the vital role that pain - the gift no-one wants - plays in the evolution of business and finance. We let down diligent folk at the Halifax (Financial Times 24 September 2008) John returns to his experience as a Halifax director to retrace the rocky road to last week's rescue takeover. Taxpayers will fund another run on the casino (Financial Times 17 September 2008) Following John's debate with Martin Wolf on financial services regulation, he explains why modesty about what such regulation can achieve is in order. Economic growth can be about better - not more (Financial Times 10 September 2008) Why do we use no more materials today than a century ago? Modern economic growth is about better rather than more Politicians cannot be trusted to set the fiscal rules (Financial Times 03 September 2008) On the last of these comments on the UK fiscal framework John considers the impact and role of borrowing limits There are sensible reasons for irrational behaviour (Financial Times 27 August 2008) If we are persistently irrational, perhaps the behaviour is not irrational. Teaching demands a warm heart and a cold eye (Financial Times 21 August 2008) Are improving examination results the product of better performance or less demanding assessment? John explores the theory and practice of grade inflation. Statistics, damned statistics and value added (Financial Times 13 August 2008) Starting from a flawed productivity comparison, John highlights the difficulties in interpreting economic statistics. Accounting rules for public duty and private failure (Financial Times 06 August 2008) What are the similarities, and the differences, between the uses and needs of accounting in the public and private sectors? Scotland's sense of injustice blights its future (Financial Times 30 July 2008) John describes the eonomic agenda for Scotland following the SNP's latest victory, in the light of the continuing legacy of an apocryphal account of Scottish history. Brown's rules are a flawed basis for policy (Financial Times 23 July 2008) The Treasury's fiscal principles - the golden rule and the sustainable investment rule - have failed for reasons similar to those that explain the failure of targets in other areas of the public sector. Blue sky thinking from McBainey and Acronym (Financial Times 12 July 2008) A report to CE International plc (formerly the Church of England) on the management challenges it faces. ^ back to top |
|
 what's this? © John Kay 2009 |