The crucial lesson China teaches the West about bank lending – and economic growth March 30, 2016 So, The Financial Times has finally questioned the wisdom of using QE to purchase good assets. You’d have thought that someone would have noticed the effect by now: new money for old assets just pushes up their price. To hope it creates a “wealth effect” and engenders confidence is a bit perverse. If bank lending [...]
Why Scotland’s fiscal fantasy will leave it high and dry if we vote for Brexit March 30, 2016 A short visit to the Highlands last week was refreshing. The scenery is just as spectacular as ever, and the people just as welcoming. But elsewhere in Scotland, the tectonic plates are shifting. Last week, a televised debate took place among the political leaders contesting the elections to the Scottish Parliament in May. It resembled a [...]
The Budget bombshell sugar tax may force fizzy drink manufacturers to make changes March 30, 2016 For all the headlines about the Budget in the past couple of weeks, there was one policy announcement that could have a major impact on brands – the sugar tax. Campaigners such as Jamie Oliver celebrated the move, hailing it as an important step in the fight against child obesity. Soft drinks company bosses are [...]
As the ECB prepares to ramp up QE this week, should it be doing even more to boost growth in the Eurozone? March 30, 2016 Vicky Pryce, who is a board member of CEBR, on City A.M.’s shadow MPC and author of Greekonomics (Biteback Publishing), says Yes. When Mario Draghi revised his forecast for the Eurozone economy down from 1.7 per cent to just 1.4 per cent, he made it clear that risks remained on the downside – reflecting world [...]
Cyber security: Why the EU General Data Protection Regulations will be game changing for unreported cybercrime March 29, 2016 A report by the Institute of Directors (IoD) and Barclays recently highlighted that one quarter of organisations had suffered a breach in the last twelve months, although only 28 per cent had reported it to the authorities. It is believed that the actual numbers of attacks could be higher. The fact is that there are still a large number [...]
A second deficit could hit chancellor George Osborne and the UK hard March 29, 2016 The Budget generated a hefty amount of political shrapnel for chancellor George Osborne, forcing him to eat humble pie in parliament and raising questions over his ability to balance the country’s books. This week, Osborne is likely to need his hard hat again when the latest balance of payments figures are published. The size of [...]
Islamic State is losing – but it must not be the West that destroys it March 29, 2016 With last week’s murderous attacks in Brussels, Islamic State (Isis) reminded us that it can strike at the heart of Europe, seemingly at will, and with depressing regularity. But while this is surely true, and will remain so for quite a time, like the wave of anarchist assassinations and terror attacks that plagued Europe at [...]
Corporation tax is a bad tax– but let’s make sure we replace it with something better March 29, 2016 The lack of meaningful reform of business taxation is one of the great failures of recent governments. But with public pressure mounting, MPs will soon have to move beyond headline-grabbing at parliamentary grillings and consider the future of corporation tax. We could of course muddle along and carry on taxing profits, perhaps gradually lowering the [...]
Why banks are humanity’s most perfect socialist institutions – and why we need to talk about bank capital March 29, 2016 Nine years after the start of the financial crisis, there has still been no rational discussion about bank capital. Blame this on the banks, who haven’t set out the arguments. Money is a figment of the human imagination. Historically, we’ve tinkered with ways of making it appear real – stamping coins, printing notes, putting up [...]
Is Brexit the most likely outcome of the EU referendum? March 29, 2016 Dr Madsen Pirie, founder and president of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. In the 1975 referendum, the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced major reforms to the EU. In fact, he had a scant handful of trivial concessions that made no difference whatsoever. The vote was to stay in because people were told they were [...]