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Behind blue eyes: Simon Taylor's blog. Behind blue eyes: Simon Taylor's blog.

Author Archives: Simon Taylor

Why raising the US minimum wage will probably not raise unemployment
20 Feb 2013

Why raising the US minimum wage will probably not raise unemployment

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Economics | 4

I think Karl Marx somewhere said that common sense was a poor guide to understanding the social world. If he actually said this (I can’t find a source) he meant it from the perspective of someone trying to show that … Continued

Why rich country debt won’t be inflated away
17 Feb 2013

Why rich country debt won’t be inflated away

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Economics, Financial products | 1

Despite persistently low inflation since the global financial crisis, there are plenty of commentators and investors who predict inflation will rise. They base this on i) the huge increase in central bank balance sheets arising from unconventional monetary policy “quantitative … Continued

Why I ignore (and actually dislike) LinkedIn endorsements
14 Feb 2013

Why I ignore (and actually dislike) LinkedIn endorsements

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Economics | 3

LinkedIn is a very useful tool which I’ve used for several years. It has become essential for job seekers and for finding out more about people that you do business with. Since you can use most of the services free … Continued

The death of distance
10 Feb 2013

The death of distance

by Simon Taylor | posted in: University of Cambridge | 6

About 20 years ago I was invited by the High Mistress of St Paul’s Girl’s School to give a talk to the sixth form. St Paul’s Girls is an academically selective and expensive school in the posh enclave of Brook … Continued

Random trials as a guide to policy
1 Feb 2013

Random trials as a guide to policy

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Economics, University of Cambridge | 0

Experiments are the normal way in which science advances. You investigate whether A causes B and by how much, controlling for all of the other things that might make B happen. In the laboratory this is relatively easy. But in … Continued

Outlook for western banks – still bad
28 Jan 2013

Outlook for western banks – still bad

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Finance sector | 0

I’ve written before about the dismal outlook for the western banks, suffering from overcapacity, increasing regulation and slow GDP growth (or continued contraction in the case of much of Europe). A new McKinsey report reinforces my pessimism. In particular McKinsey … Continued

How much debt do governments actually have?
23 Jan 2013

How much debt do governments actually have?

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Economics, Finance sector | 1

It might seem straightforward to measure how much debt a government has. But it’s not that simple. First, we have to decide what is “debt”. We should obviously include debt securities and bank loans. But what about pension and insurance … Continued

In the not so bleak midwinter
20 Jan 2013

In the not so bleak midwinter

by Simon Taylor | posted in: University of Cambridge | 3

One advantage of being an academic is that although you have no less work to do than people in “normal’ jobs, you have more choice of when to do it. So, after a long Sunday afternoon of marking, reviewing an … Continued

Does giving money to poor people work?
19 Jan 2013

Does giving money to poor people work?

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Economics | 0

Since the definition of poverty is not having enough money, it might seem obvious that giving money to poor people is a good way to help them. But cash transfers, as they are known in the aid and development world, … Continued

The origins of “piggy bank”
12 Jan 2013

The origins of “piggy bank”

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Financial products | 0

I hadn’t ever wondered about why people save spare change in a pig-shaped china container. But the ever-interesting Federal Reserve Bank of New York blog Liberty Street has just told me. It seems that it originally had nothing to do … Continued

US healthcare spending as the central budgetary problem
6 Jan 2013

US healthcare spending as the central budgetary problem

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Course material, Economics, Financial products | 1

I make the point in classroom discussions of the US fiscal outlook that, simplifying only a little, the problem of US federal spending reduces to the problem of the US health care system. All rich countries face an increase in … Continued

debt, fiscal policy, growth, healthcare, macro
Why I’ll be watching Japan in 2013
2 Jan 2013

Why I’ll be watching Japan in 2013

by Simon Taylor | posted in: China, Economics, International affairs | 1

Every country is unique but some are more unique than others. Japan, though quite obviously not located in the geographic western hemisphere, is part of “the west” as a group of rich democracies with advanced economies. Its inclusion is not … Continued

Monetary policy in Middle Earth
31 Dec 2012

Monetary policy in Middle Earth

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Economics, International affairs | 0

I’ve mentioned before the long running argument about whether The Wizard of Oz is in fact an allegory of the gold standard. Those who think it is point to the book having being written during the arguments about bimetallism (whether … Continued

Paying for a coffee and habit persistence
28 Dec 2012

Paying for a coffee and habit persistence

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Book recommendation, Finance sector, Financial products | 0

An essential function of the financial system is paying for things. We take for granted the ability to move money from companies to employees, from customers back to companies and for a myriad of daily transactions. This aspect of the … Continued

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas
23 Dec 2012

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas

by Simon Taylor | posted in: Uncategorized | 4

It is supposed to be George Bernard Shaw who said that the UK and USA are “two nations divided by a common language.” Long established differences persist. Nobody in the UK says “gotten” anymore, even though it was normal English … Continued

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About

Simon is Management Practice Professor of Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School. From 2008-2018 he was the first Director of the University of Cambridge Master of Finance (MFin) degree, and was later the first Director of the University's Global Executive MBA. An economist and former equities analyst at JPMorgan and Citigroup, he teaches on financial markets and institutions, infrastructure finance and the world financial system. He is a Fellow in Management at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he is a member of the investment committee, and a research associate of the Cambridge Energy Policy Research Group, where he specialises in nuclear finance.

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