Category: Finance and economics
Building euro-zone competitiveness: Ports in the storm
LISBON’S harbour mixes pleasure with business. Bars and restaurants sit alongside industrial machinery and colossal container ships. The combination works: shiny cranes gleam in the sunset as tourists and locals eat and drink at t…
Free exchange: Nudge nudge, think think
“FREAKONOMICS” was the book that made the public believe the dismal science has something interesting to say about how people act in the real world. But “Nudge” was the one that got policy wonks excited. The book, first publ…
A theory of fiscal policy: Self-sustaining stimulus
WHEN he was at the Treasury nearly 20 years ago Larry Summers would counsel President Bill Clinton on the merits of “stimulative austerity”: cut deficits, and interest rates will fall by enough to produce stronger economic growth. Now Mr Summers is…
Apple’s share price: iRational?
THE new iPad, which was released on March 16th, is the most popular version of the tablet yet. Apple sold 3m of them in just four days. But some buyers took to discussion forums to report that it has a tendency to heat up. A similar…
Free exchange: Body of evidence
IN THE search for the villain behind the global financial crisis, some have pointed to inequality as a culprit. In his 2010 book “Fault Lines”, Raghuram Rajan of the University of Chicago argued that inequality was a cause of th…
Equity markets: Shares and shibboleths
IF THERE is a sacred belief among investors, it is that equities are the best asset for the long run. Buy a diversified portfolio, be patient and rewards will come. Holding cash or government bonds may offer safety in the short term…
Credit-rating agencies: Letters from India
THERE’S a land far from Wall Street, where credit-rating agencies are not outcasts and can look in the mirror without feeling sick. This paradise is India, with six licensed ratings agencies, the biggest of which, CRISIL, has a ma…
Walter Schloss: Death of a non-salesman
WALTER SCHLOSS was never a face on financial television programmes. Nor was he known for marketing his skills to investors (he was indifferent to collecting clients and only 92 managed to sign on). His death last month, at the age of 95, garnered littl…
US banks: Destressing news
I see nothing offensive in the term
IF PROOF were needed of how much the world has changed for banks, this week brought two pieces of evidence. Before the crisis a resignation letter from a relatively junior banker would not have mad…
Buttonwood: Emerging appetites
TEN years ago Brazil still carried the taint of the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s and of Argentina’s default in 2001. Brazilian government bonds were rated as junk and its debt yielded more than 10%. But Brazil did not d…
