Yesterday in class a question arose as to whether the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) is keeping US government interest rates down by buying government bonds in the market. By adding to the demand for bonds, relative to a … Continued
Quantitative easing (QE) has become a highly controversial policy, particularly in the USA, where the Federal Reserve has been criticised by politicians, investors and academics up to and including the charge of treason. Yet the Chairman of the Fed, Ben … Continued
One of my recent dinners was at the house of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, at his grand, official residence in Latham Road. The dinner was for speakers at the Cambridge University alumni weekend, which attracts several thousand … Continued
Every country’s economic relations with the rest of the world are summarised in the balance of payments. This is divided into the current account, which records the flows of trade and income, and the capital account, which records the flows … Continued
Financial repression is a term used by economists which means the government taking ordinary people’s savings to achieve some goal, typically to pay for the government itself, by exploiting imperfections in the financial system. It is an indirect form of … Continued
Starting pay for new investment banking hires at the analyst (entry) level has gone up recently. This report shows that the investment banking employment cartel is now paying £45,000 for people starting this autumn in London. That looks like good news … Continued
I was recently asked the difference between a Ponzi scheme and a pyramid scheme. They are closely related but there is a key difference, which is that a pyramid scheme is not necessarily fraudulent, though it frequently is marketed with … Continued
Here is a letter from a US professor who is retiring after 40 years of teaching. He complains of the sense of entitlement among today’s students and says he “grew increasingly weary of all the whining, crying, excuse-making, and general lack … Continued
A phrase that pops up regularly in Chinese financial and economic commentary is the internationalisation of the RMB (renminbi – the people’s currency). What does this actually mean? Internationalisation is not an official or recognised economics term but China uses … Continued
The myth of the scheming woman is one that pops up in many cultures. In the UK, for example, we talk of Lady Macbeth when we want to describe a devious woman who is held responsible for a hapless mere … Continued
Introduction Conventional finance theory is based on the microeconomic theory of consumer choice under uncertainty. This is a long established theory with some serious weaknesses. On the MFin we have a core course called “Economic foundations of finance” which shows … Continued
Despite far too much rain, the graduation of last year’s MFin class was a great and memorable event. It was crowned by a reunion gig after dinner in the beautiful Queens College Old Hall, by the MFin band put together … Continued
Next year’s class is still work in progress as admissions don’t close till the end of May. Last year we closed at the end of June (*) so we don’t have a like for like comparison, and there was quite a … Continued
When we launched the MFin in 2008 I think most of us had in mind as typical students people who were looking for jobs in the private sector. It was partly the fact that it is a “premium fee” (i.e. … Continued
Globally, applicants to MBA programmes take the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). Those applying to other sorts of graduate school often take the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). If you want to enter a US college you usually need to take … Continued