The sorry tale of forward guidance August 13, 2014 What remains of the Bank of England’s policy of forward guidance, launched just a year ago? In the light of yesterday’s Inflation Report, the answer has to be “not much”. The value of guidance from a central bank should be to provide a consistent and reliable indication of how it is thinking about its decisions [...]
The power of our top football clubs is making the Premier League predictable August 13, 2014 The Premier League kicks off again this weekend. And given the abysmal showing of our boys in the recent World Cup, a falling off of interest might be expected. But increasingly, our domestic football league attracts many of the best players from around the world. A self-reinforcing process has been set up on a global [...]
Rising rates will kill off the zombie firms – but this may hurt SMEs too August 13, 2014 It’s been a while since we heard about zombie companies – those businesses without much of a future, clinging on mainly because of record low interest rates. There’s an underworld of these poorly performing firms – unable to invest, tired, demotivated, with poorly rewarded staff and new ideas that are thwarted at every turn by [...]
Would a vote for Scottish independence significantly harm the UK’s security? August 13, 2014 Professor Malcolm Chalmers, research director at RUSI, says Yes. We won’t know how serious the consequences are until we know the separation terms. But if Scotland insists on expelling Trident by 2020, as is promised, the UK would not be able to rebuild nuclear bases fast enough to remain a nuclear power. We could see [...]
How do you decide to change jobs? Here are the 6 questions you must ask yourself August 13, 2014 Changing jobs can be a terrifying and dangerous decision. Which is why despite some people enjoying working for the same company for decades, some stay in jobs they hate because they fear change and stay with the devil they know. Others see it as completely normal to change jobs every couple of years – and [...]
How the government is helping SMEs access the finance they need August 12, 2014 Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of our economy. They employ close to 14.4m people (almost 60 per cent of total UK private sector employment), with almost 4.6m people now self-employed. But many SMEs suffered after the financial crisis, due in part to the lack of availability and flexibility of bank lending. This [...]
Maliki’s ignominious exit is good for Iraq – now let’s hope he goes quietly August 12, 2014 As is often the case, Nouri al-Maliki’s Iraqi government found itself abandoned by even its oldest friends in the end. As the internal revolt within his Dawa Party to replace him as Prime Minister gathered pace, Maliki found his old buttresses of support had quietly buckled. The Americans had finally given up on him in [...]
France is the home of liberalism – it’s high time the country rediscovered this August 12, 2014 Who wrote that the state is “that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else”? Milton Friedman? Ayn Rand? Surely an Anglo-Saxon libertarian? Not at all. It’s Frederic Bastiat, a French economist and politician who fiercely fought the protectionist camp over the liberalisation of the grain trade in the [...]
As London house prices show signs of cooling, are fears of a bubble overplayed? August 12, 2014 Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Berenberg Bank, says Yes. Rapid rises in house prices would be a threat if they turned into an uncontrollable bubble accompanied by a rapid debt build-up. So it is good news that London house price inflation seems to be slowing down. And that slowdown has its roots in action [...]
How BuzzFeed’s $850m valuation shows there’s money in those cat lists August 11, 2014 BuzzFeed, the spiritual home of lists, cats and OMG labels, has just secured a further $50m (£30m) in investment, reportedly seeing it valued at an impressive $850m (£506m). When you consider that the Washington Post was bought by Jeff Bezos for a paltry $250m (£149m) last year, this is a figure that should make you [...]