It’s nice to see the Chinese government making constructive noises about helping the Eurozone and Italy in particular, if only because I speculated about Beijing coming to the rescue earlier this year in class. I also put the idea to … Continued
Since I last blogged back in June, the flow of bad economic and financial news has turned into a torrent. Banks have shed jobs, markets have fallen, confidence in governments is even lower than before, the ECB has acrimoniously lost … Continued
Three Eurozone countries are being “bailed out” at present: Greece, Ireland and Portugal. In each case the country’s government has been lent money by public sector organisations (IMF, European Central Bank (ECB) and EU member states) because the private markets … Continued
I’m reading an excellent new book called “Red Capitalism: the fragile foundation of China’s extraordinary rise” by Carl Walter and Fraser Howie which provides some very detailed and fascinating background to the current state of the Chinese banking system. It’s … Continued
I wrote a while back about the potential benefits of restricting student choice. I’m feeling even more inclined in that direction after the annual group consulting project (GCP) round. We try to offer students a choice over which project to … Continued
Thomas Schelling won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2005 together with Robert Aumann for work on game theory. Aumann’s work is in the traditionally mathematical area of game theory. Schelling’s is much more accessible and his main insights are … Continued
I read very few books owing to a lack of time. I read a great many articles and blog posts, which has possibly made me impatient when I think of reading a whole book. And many books are too long, … Continued
For at least a year there have been investors and commentators concerned about a resurgence of inflation in the US and Europe. Inflation has already risen in some other economies, including China, but that is partly to be expected in … Continued
I mentioned in a previous blog that we hosted a day of complexity experts here in Cambridge. I wasn’t at the seminar but was lucky enough to be introduced to Eric Beinhocker, the author of The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, … Continued
A few years ago a course on financial institutions would mention the IMF as a matter almost of politeness. An organisation that was created in 1944 for a role which ceased to make sense after 1971 seemed to be surviving, … Continued
There is plenty of excellent commentary on the rapidly unfolding Greek financial crisis so I want to stand back slightly and muse on the bigger picture. This is an economic problem that arose from a political goal. There is a … Continued
Cambridge University’s Judge Business School has a strong collaborative ethos. So for example students are not “incentivised” by being told their grades relative to each other. We tell them the actual mark, the class mean and standard deviation but no … Continued
Students have recently been asking about how anyone can continue to defend the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH) against the backdrop of the financial crisis and volatility we’ve seen in the last couple of years. I think there are two useful … Continued