House prices and house price indices
House prices are rising everywhere. But by how much? British values go up and up, but there is wide disagreement abou...
Economic forecasting
President Harry Truman reportedly sought a one-armed economist, who would be unable to say ‘on the one hand … and on the other’. ...
Toxic waste in financial services
Why would anyone want to buy a bond whose return is proportional to the square of the current interest rate? Why would someone in...
US politics
I have been in the US for two weeks now, and have not seen a Wal-Mart store. The world’s largest retailer is ubiquitous, but not...
Copyright
Lawrence Lessig’s new (downloadable) book on intellectual property has created a predictable furore. In an angry letter to this ...
European Constitution
Fifty years ago, the United States decided to eliminate the racial segregation which had disfigured American society since the foundati...
Interest rates
A few weeks ago, I took part in a debate about European and American business models. Was the European social market viable? &nbs...
European Union new members – languages
The founding members of the European Union shared four languages and six bilingual interpreters could have enabled any of its citizens ...
Globalisation
It looks as though Merrill Lynch, Mercedes and McDonald’s may survive this Mayday without broken windows. And just as well. Merri...
Shell
Most of the largest companies in the world a century ago – businesses like US Steel and International Harvester – are now but a shadow ...