Cheap news is bad news
The new industry is struggling to survive, with far reaching consequences on public accountability and democracy. Steve says part of the problem could have been fixed with a suitable micropayments sys...
1 Maj 202447min
Fool’s Gold
There are two types of people who buy gold. Speculators who see it as a risk-adverse asset class to buy when other investments look a little shaky. There are also those who hold onto gold because they...
24 Apr 202438min
Will America ever be great again?
Sadly for Donald Trump, America seems to have been doing quite well in his absence. It has weathered the pandemic and inflation better than most. GDP pr capita is rising faster than most places and co...
17 Apr 202445min
Feige’s automated transaction tax – the simple answer?
For a while now Dr Edgar Feige has been a proponent of an automated transactional tax. The idea is that we get rid of all taxes – income tax, sales tax, corporate tax, excise, capital gains, import an...
10 Apr 202441min
Does immigration slow inflation?
There’s been a lot of speculation lately about the role of immigration and its impact on inflation. Does a flood of foreign workers push down wages, which contains cost and keeps prices down? Converse...
3 Apr 202440min
End of the Rising Sun
The Bank of Japan has just lifted interest rates for the first time in 17 tears. The central bank has kept rates in negative territory in the mistaken belief that it would encourage banks to lend an p...
27 Mars 202439min
The economics of babysitting
One analogy that economists like to use is that of the Capitol Hill Babysitting cooperative in Washington DC in the 1970s. Government workers set-up a babysitting group, where they to it in turns to b...
20 Mars 202431min
Hunt’s Budget Fantasyland
The UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered what is almost certainly his last budget, promising the usual stuff – more investment, more jobs, better public services and lower taxes. And, miraculously, all...
13 Mars 202444min
