Category Archives: Uncategorized

Is the high unemployment rate something we have to get used to? “Yes” say the ‘structuralists’ who view the problem as one of mismatch between the jobs needed by the modern economy and the skills offered by the workforce. Since this is a gap that would take a long time to close, we may as […]

I think Krugman essentially has it right about the apparent lack of bond-market excitement over a possible US debt repayment event (which might arise if Congress refuses to authorise a higher debt ceiling). To paraphrase him: why should the markets worry when it has been made crystal clear that the Fed is capable and willing to […]

I’m a hardcore pessimist on the euro-area — perhaps because I’ve spent too much time on the Great Depression. As the saying goes, give a person a hammer, and everything looks like a nail. But I’ll concede one thing: if de-coupling is real (and I am sure it is), then the eurozone story makes a bit […]

What is the only option for a central bank up against the ‘zero lower bound’ (i.e. the policy interest rate has been set to zero) and whose asset purchases (‘quantitative easing’) have little traction? Answer: inflation expectations. The whole point is that, for better or worse (largely for worse), monetary policy has been given the […]

I want to know how the secondary school students in your area are taught history — specifically the Great Depression. The form to capture your feedback is located at http://tinyurl.com/nzsz6sn. Alternatively, you can simply email me photographs of the relevant pages of your textbook. (To get in touch, please first use the “contact” button above.)***I’m working on […]

Serious question. Why don’t sovereign wealth funds (SWFs, the managers of a nation’s commodity windfall, usually) invest in other people’s education? Note that I am specifying other people’s education. I don’t mean this to imply that education levels in the SWF nations are “high enough” (I don’t even know what that would mean, and anyway it certainly […]

Will the Fed really be able to carry through with its pledge to begin “tapering” QE from this autumn? Almost certainly not. This means that the higher yields being paid on US debt represent a buying opportunity. It also means that the present moment is a good time to seek exposure to emerging market assets. Ditto […]

On French bargaining power with Germany over concessional loans to keep Germany in the euro area gold standard:“The strength of the French situation, it is universally recognised here, is that France possesses an abundance of capital available with which to help Germany, that her present commitments in Germany are enormously less important than those of […]

Namely, unnecessary austerity. Contractionary policy is contractionary. Who knew? 

A version of this post was published in the Zintro Blog for 6-May-2013.Most of the commentary on Bitcoin centres on its in-built scarcity, which is meant to ensure its value rather like the inelastic supply of gold was meant to confer value on paper money under the gold standard. But what fascinates me about Bitcoin […]