Dani Rodrik says that banks are losing support of economists in maintaining their grip on the political establishment. He bases his observations on the revision in IMF thinking (published in February 2010) on the utility of capital controls as one more weapon in the policy arsenal of sovereign governments. From here, he reckons that it [...]
Thanks to John Mauldin’s wonderful emails, I came across two pieces of research on Europe. Research by Gavekal was sober, by their standards, considering that the subject matter was Europe. They usually are quite unsparing in their criticism of Euro and the Eurozone. The political economy significance of the single currency project goes unrecognized in [...]
It all started with this URL that came from a colleague. It was a piece by Stratfor, an American think-tank, on the fiscal deficit problems of Greece.
I read it and my first reaction was that it was interesting to read and it made sense too. I circulated to some friends in Europe, or more precisely, [...]
Professor Jagdish Bhagwati is now blogging. It is good news. Even better news is that he seems regular with his comments. They are not sporadic. With Professor Bhagwati, one cannot offer the excuse that one did not understand where he stood and what he stood for.
His latest comment is on China-bashing on exchange rate. Suffice [...]
First, a colleague sent me this article in Germany’s ‘Der Spiegel’. That article simply mentioned the role of Wall Street institutions like Goldman Sachs in helping to postpone the recognition of debt back in the days when it had not yet joined the monetary union or shortly, thereafter:
Now, though, it looks like the Greek figure [...]
Gilian Tett’s piece (h.t Christopher Wood of CLSA) in FT on the new vehicle that Barclays is setting up makes for very interesting reading. She uses the right word to describe this: Chutzpah!
I would check out this programme from Channel 4, ‘Middle Class and Jobless’. They do a good job of investigating the true state [...]
I agree with Gideon Rachman here on the risks of maintaining artificial currency stability in Latvia.
FT writers raise questions on the Chinese growth ‘miracle’.
The Chinese government is one of the few governments in the world that knows its GDP numbers three years in advance,” Faber told CNBC.
Well, I did not watch this interview. But, I could [...]
After spending a month in Zurich (I had to be based there for two months from mid-May to mid-July), while walking towards the gate to board the flight back to Singapore, my 10-year old daughter summarised years and tomes of research on Euroscelorosis, deteriorating competitiveness with this one sentence: things were not only expensive in [...]
“In finance, during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, whether in London or New York, Berlin or Paris, there was one great divide. On one side stood the big Anglo-Saxon banking firms: J. P. Morgan, Brown Brothers, Barings; on the other the Jewish concerns: the four branches of the Rothscilds, Lazards, the great [...]
Paul Krugman has been hammering away at the absence of co-operation from European nations on stimulating their economies. Perhaps, if he had seen this news item in FT, he would have had second thoughts. The article header, ‘Eurozone consumers defy gloom‘ leaves no one in doubt as to the content.
Again, thanks to Paul Kedrosky, I [...]
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