Why the Atkins approach is bad for business
Doing an Atkins diet is now as fashionable in business as it is in personal life. But in business – as on the female body – there are places where you want fat as well as those where you do not. Bottom line – rather than tinker with sustainability, it is still best to soak up resources and use the energy productively.
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.
When the heat is on the cool places still prosper
The connection between a country’s climate and its wealth can prove elusive.
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.
Travels with an economist
Where do economists go on holiday? Unmoved by glossy travel brochures they turn straight to the concept of purchasing power parity.
On John Kay’s Bookshelf – Archive page
Books that John has reviewed in the past...
Technology and wealth creation: where we are, where we’re going
The interrelationship of technology, economic advance, and social and political systems, has many ramifications. The last ten years, in economic terms, have constituted an American decade. But the way in which the American decade comes to an end is probably the most important issue for the world economy today.
How Measurement in Organisations has Changed (Cambridge)
John Kay speaks about the need for seamless integration between the three roles of measurement, which he identifies as external reporting, internal control and internal analysis. His major theme is that the requirements for external reporting should be derived from the measures used for internal control which in turn should be based upon the measures used to complete internal analysis. Hence the seamless link between these three roles of measurement.
Geography and the GDP puzzle
Looking at the most productive economies in the world, one common element is striking: Western European influence. This is a most unfashionable observation to make.
Crisis, what crisis?
The crisis in the European social model should be clearly visible from Copenhagen. It proves hard to establish what is really supposed to be going wrong.