Category Archives: General Economics

The Nobel Peace Prize was won by Muhammed Yunus of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The Bank pioneered the use of microcredit. Amazingly, the story in the Times reports that 96% of the borrowers are women and 98% of the money … Continue reading →

The BBC reports that Google’s acquisition of You Tube may not be the advertising bonanza they expected. Should Google lose a major YouTube court case and its share price suffers as a result, the company will have to brace itself … Continue reading →

Goes to Edmund Phelps. Here is a typically thoughtful analysis of tax rates and labour participation, in an article that warns of the dangers of economists pursuing ideas incompletely and without sufficient evidence. His name didn’t appear on most lists. … Continue reading →

I read in this morning’s Metro (yes, I admit it) that Boris Johnson is proposing that students be given cash incentives by universities to learn. This, he suggests, would encourage greater efforts on behalf of the students, and also limit … Continue reading →

Francisca Kellet writes in the Daily Telegraph about Venice’s proposal to introduce a tourist tax. Given the enormous year-round overcrowding in Venice, I have a better solution: introduce an entry fee to stay on the lagoon. After all, is Venice … Continue reading →

Tesco announces half-year profits of £1bn and makes no secret of its plans to get even bigger. Cue image of Terry Leahy sneering and stroking a white cat. The growth and success of the supermarket industry is a cause of … Continue reading →

Chris Dillow ruminates on executive pay. I’m not sure if there is one theory that is suffiicient to explain this. Not long ago, the cult of personality appeared to be everything. In a zeitgist of deal-driven corporate growth, individuals with … Continue reading →