Broken but better: Monopoly companies should not resist being dismantled by government
As Microsoft faces being broken up, Bill Gates should take heart from the lesson of history: the biggest beneficiaries of anti-trust break-ups have often been the companies being "punished".
Buyers must master art of the particular
If stock-picking fails to beat the index, why should picking companies? It won’t, unless mergers carefully match the firms involved.
Mechanics of the market
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.
A guide to get-rich-quick scams
The internet bubble bears some resemblance to a Ponzi scheme: a brief history of such schemes is informative.
Cloud cuckoo land’s costly logic
The mobile phone spectrum auctions are part of a long tradition of governments deriving revenue from allocating scarce resources. In this case, no juster tax has ever been imposed.
Stretching the figures
“Do the math” has become the mantra of a generation of consultants and investment bankers. The new economy, they claim, requires new principles of valuation. But the rules of logic hold even in cyberspace, and so do the principles of economics. Profits are hard to earn in competitive businesses, and markets that are not competitive are usually regulated.
Young surfers catch a wave
The Parable of Dot, Com and Uncle Sam. Where exactly is Uncle Sam’s money going?
Downside of regulation
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 social route to economic success
If man were not a social animal he would not be as economically successful as he has been. A biological perspective can prove highly illuminating.
Spanner in the works
The proposal to extend the Droit de Suite amounts to a subsidy of successful artists by unsuccessful ones.