Traditionally, business was the most important political backer of free markets – which made sense, because business needs markets in order to exist at all. However in the last generation, the views of business, as expressed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other outlets, have increasingly diverged from the free market ideal. As crony […]

A fascinating book “Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives – A World Without World War I” by Richard Ned Lebow (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) looks at history’s likely trajectory if the Sarajevo assassin Gavrilo Princip had missed and concludes that while much would be changed, we would at best be only modestly better off. However Lebow is not […]

The New York Attorney General’s lawsuit against Barclays’ dark pool is yet another example of banks’ increasing resemblance to asbestos manufacturers, but it also reflects an uncomfortable truth: Whether through “fast trading,” through the new area of “crypto-currencies” or through the increasing frailty of bank and corporate security systems, technology is transforming previously well understood […]

The French bank BNP Paribas is about to be fined $9-10 billion for doing business with Iran, a country with which the U.S. is finding common ground in Iraq. Since 2008, the U.S. and the trial bar have obtained fines and settlements from global banks totaling $88 billion (as of early June.) Now medium sized […]