John Kay

Private equity promoters propose layer upon layer of debt, leveraged by non-recourse finance. But the same finance theory also tells us that you do not increase the value of an investment portfolio by increasing gearing.

Intellectual property rules are an attempt to strike a balance between conflicting public interests and the need to provide economic incentives. However, companies should find commercial success through new products, not new legislation.

An average long run value of the equity premium of up to 8% is arithmetically unsustainable: within a few decades, profits and dividends would absorb the whole of national income.

Determining the incidence of a tax – the people who are ultimately out of pocket as a result of its imposition – is a complex process. But we should be concerned about the overall distribution of the tax burden – which people pay what. And this is best examined by looking at the tax system as a whole rather than its individual component

We are often told that the best way to protect artistic innovation and creativity is to extend copyright. But it is not usually the budding novelist or musician that pushes the argument.

Books that John has reviewed in the past…

If stock-picking fails to beat the index, why should picking companies? It won’t, unless mergers carefully match the firms involved.

Efficient markets make money for market participants, but not for market makers. That is something the enthusiastic promoters of B2B exchanges have yet to understand.

There are many things wrong with British banks, but contrary to the Cruickshank Report, the fact that they make profits is not one of them.

The proposal to extend the Droit de Suite amounts to a subsidy of successful artists by unsuccessful ones.