It’s a “historic day” for Greece, according to Lucas Papademos, as Europe’s finance ministers have finally agreed a second massive cash injection for his ailing economy. In return for yet more budget cutting and even closer supervision, Greece gets €130bn. It’s enough to keep them in the Euro and avoid default. According to Jean Claude [...]
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Spain re-discovers the Peseta, and the healthy diversity of currency
In 2002, Spain introduced the Euro, and the Peseta was slowly phased out. However, the central bank didn’t set a deadline for people to redeem their old currency. If you find a jar of old coins lying around, you can still cash them in for Euros. That means there’s still a lot of money out [...]
What’s your money up to right now?
Do you remember the Paddington Bear story where Paddington goes to get his pound note back from Floyds bank, and they give him somebody else’s pound? He knows, because he marked his specially with a marmalade paw-print. I think it was probably from that story that I first learned as a child that the money [...]
Five myths about the financial transaction tax
Yesterday Nicolas Sarkozy announced that France would press ahead unilaterally with a Financial Transaction Tax. Advocates of a Robin Hood Tax were swift to celebrate, myself included. Needless to say, skeptics were equally swift to denounce it as a terrible mistake. There is a shrill paranoia about the financial transaction tax. It is epitomised by [...]
The coming first world debt crisis, by Ann Pettifor
In 2008, the Queen posed a question at the London School of Economics: how come nobody saw the economic crisis coming? She received a variety of answers, both on the day and at later discussions. No doubt economists take some comfort in debating that question, but the fact is that plenty of people saw the [...]
The IEA is wrong about wellbeing
The Institute of Economic Affairs released a paper this week called …And the Pursuit of Happiness. In a nutshell, it argues that the government is wasting its time measuring happiness, because it is economic growth that makes people happy. It adds that we shouldn’t worry about inequality either, and that big government is bad. In [...]
Britain’s debt problem: it’s not the government
Like many countries, Britain is following austerity policies at the moment, paring back government services to try and get debt under control. Every new budget or economic speech is analysed by City commentators. “Have they done enough?” they ask. “How will the markets respond?” It’s a little hypocritical of the City to wag a finger [...]
Redefine wealth for global prosperity
“We can’t begin to tackle poverty without growth.” The words of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, speaking in the US last year. Since the fragile peace negotiated in 2003, Liberia has had steady economic growth at an average of 7% a year. If the country can continue to build, tackle corruption, increase access to education and [...]
The Shard and the curse of the skyscraper
In six months time London will be the proud possessor of the tallest building in Europe. The Shard, currently splintering skywards on the South Bank, will stand over 1,000 feet tall on completion. If the architects are to be believed, it will be a glorious monument to London’s ambition. But the ‘tallest building’ game is [...]
The Schumacher legacy
On monday I posted a short biography of E F Schumacher. Today I want to look at what happened to his ideas, and how his thinking has continued to evolve. Schumacher’s work did not end with his death. It has carried on through numerous organisations, societies and individuals, some directly inspired by him, others incorporating [...]
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