China’s recent announcement that it would use its $2 trillion of foreign reserves to boost its companies overseas acquisitions tells us that its economic beliefs are neither those of Adam Smith, nor of Karl Marx, but of the 17th Century mercantilist Thomas Mun. It is becoming clear that in economics, unlike in “hard” sciences, old […]

The mammoth profits reported by Goldman Sachs and the investment banking end of JP Morgan Chase last week surprised markets and demonstrated once again the power of trading operations to earn spectacular returns, for their protagonists and even occasionally for investors. It was of course the theory of Jeff Skilling and the late lamented Enron […]

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has proposed a new banking regulation regime under which very large “too big to fail” institutions should be compelled to carry more capital than smaller banks. At first sight, this looks sensible, but on further examination the change may go in the wrong direction, having the perverse effect […]

The Waxman-Markey “cap and trade” global warming bill passed by the House of Representatives on June 26 introduces what are essentially government price controls on energy, which currently represents about 9% of the US economy. The impending healthcare legislation, if passed in one of its more extreme forms, will extend government price controls over healthcare, […]