Bonuses are a problem diet for financiers
Heads, we win; tails, they lose! Managers, traders and advisers who take more of gains than of losses have incentives to support risky courses of action that are not in the best interests of the principals they represent. John explains why this scheme can never really align the rewards of the individual with the objectives of the organisation.
Why a privatised railway drew bad reviews
David Hare’s play on rail privatisation, The Permanent Way, offers drama along classical Shakespearean lines – what is foredoomed to fail, fails. However, as an intriguing conversation reveals, Hare seems to have missed a key point.
When natural resources are a curse
It is in human, rather than natural resources, that the origins of material prosperity are to be found. John describes why natural resources may be a burden rather than a blessing for some developing countries.
Don’t get too hung up on inflation measures
Index number experts are the economic analogue of trainspotters. John explains why the Chancellor should direct attention to a broader range of monetary measures instead of redefining the inflation index.
Economic forecasting will never be an exact science
John explains why reliable economic forecasting is, in principle, impossible
Galileo and the lure of amateur economics
A comparison of DIY economics - the things everyone knows but aren't so - with DIY physics.
Electricity failures should come as no shock
Are the increasingly frequent failures in electricity supply the result of privatisation and deregulation?
Vive la différence in the local market
A walk on Menton's marché municipal reveals how the conclusions regarding differences in productivity among countries, can be both obvious and meaningless.
You can’t cut costs without cutting service
Successive cost cutting rounds may just be a way of funding the present at the expense of the future.
Global warming? Leave it to human ingenuity
In this article John explains how human ingenuity is the most likely answer to environmental concerns in the future as it has been in the past.