Although the world appears a very turbulent place, financial volatility is currently rather low. How do we know this? One method widely used by commentators and market analysts is to refer to a measure of global risk aversion called the VIX. This post … Continued
The City of London is the oldest part of greater London, yet has many of the newest buildings. Tiny, winding medieval streets are preserved next to the latest office blocks, built rapidly on the ruins of older, less efficient blocks … Continued
In mid-June 2014 the Financial Times (FT) will publish its latest rankings for Masters in Finance degree programmes. The Cambridge MFin may be included for the first time. The FT rankings are divided into exclusively post-experience programmes (where prior work … Continued
In recent weeks I have taken part in meetings to discuss: student feedback on MFin teachers; teaching procedures across all programmes at Cambridge Judge Business School; the selection of winners of annual teaching prizes; and the results of a Cambridge University teaching … Continued
I recently took part in an interesting one day workshop at Churchill College on the future of nuclear power. My small contribution was a short presentation that tries to identify what it is that makes nuclear power currently all but … Continued
Bonds, which are debt securities, are often known as “fixed income” investments. This is mostly correct but not strictly accurate. A typical bond pays a fixed coupon, which is an amount of money normally paid twice a year, for a … Continued
I recently gave a presentation to the Cambridge China Business Network, a student club. The title is “Like dismantling a nuclear bomb: liberalising the Chinese financial system”. The slides are shown below. Summary Liberalisation of a market means removing most … Continued
The city of Dresden, capital of the Free State of Saxony, in the east of Germany, has a grimly melancholy reputation in the UK as the town most comprehensively destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II, a level of … Continued
I have at last visited Shenzhen, one of China’s four first tier cities (along with Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen’s neighbour Guangzhou), as part of the Cambridge EMBA International Business Study Trip. It’s a likeable and impressive city, much greener and … Continued
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a great example of an institution that was created for one purpose – to police the system of fixed exchange rates set up in the 1944 Bretton Woods treaty – which has survived and … Continued
Ahead of attending the Cambridge-Beijing Forum on market reforms in China, hosted by Cambridge Judge Business School next month in Beijing, I thought I should check the official Chinese government position. The Chinese Premier (head of the State Council, loosely … Continued
It is rare to meet your heroes. I wouldn’t exactly describe Professor Robert C. Merton as one of my heroes – I’m not sure I have any heroes actually – but he is somebody I admire greatly. He is probably … Continued
I was recently asked to recommend blogs and other resources on the Chinese economy. In case other people would find it useful, I list the main ones here. Bear in mind that, not reading Chinese, I’m confined to English sources … Continued
The leader of one of our main international financial institutions argues that we need to remember and learn from the cooperative spirit in which the Bretton Woods international financial system was born in 1944. Unfortunately the creation and later success … Continued
It must be puzzling and exasperating to the general public that economists still seem so clueless about perhaps the most important and central topic in economic policy, the money system. Yet a lot of economic news is about the problem … Continued