Two words, that’s all that’s wrong. The FT is running an excellent series at the moment in which various world renowned economists argue either for or against cutting fiscal deficits. Of course, what we are seeing in the FT is no more than a reflection of a much wider debate running in pubs, bars and

One of the big mistakes economists and politicians make is to assume we live in a more-certain world than we actually do. Most of the big innovations, the Internet, computers, lasers, and even penicillin, were accidents. The Internet was originally designed as a method for protecting US data in the event of a nuclear attack. The innovation of the laser occurred when two researchers at Bell Labs were attempting to create a method for studying molecular structures. Penicillin was discovered after Alexander Fleming accidentally left a dish of staphylococcus bacteria uncovered – as you do – for a few days. The key to innovation is

In some ways, observing the economic upheavals of the last couple of years has been a little like watching a car crash in slow motion – very slow motion. And as May gives way to June, the crash reaches news heights. Spain has had its credit rating downgraded, this time by Fitch, from AAA to

There are those who are surprised, nay shocked, by the coming together of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives to form the UK government. But in fact they should not have been surprised at all. The writing was on the wall, in big bold letters. During the debates between the three parties, you may recall those worm

Let’s get this confession out of the way first. Investment and Business News is a fan of globalisation because it seems it is perhaps the single greatest force ever seen for creating wealth. Critics of globalisation who say it causes poverty, fail to realise that actually what it really does is expose poverty that already

The men and women who run China’s government are a savvy bunch. They know economics. In fact, a couple of years ago at the Davos conference, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was seen reading Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. (Apparently, or so he said, Mr Wen was rereading it.) The real snag is that China is

Maybe the real problem with bankers is that too many of them are men. At least, that’s one of the more popular of the theories explaining what caused the credit bubble. The argument goes like this. The problem with bankers is they took too many risks. This risk taking was encouraged by too much testosterone.

During the credit crunch we have become so pre-occupied with bankers that we have forgotten a far more serious challenge. But it may be changing. Recently two books have been published looking at this deeper threat. A fascinating article in “Foreign Affairs” magazine came up with a radical solution. And in its latest quarterly report,

The UK left recession in the final quarter of last year.  Should we all go out and celebrate? Of course, some economists argue that it will be a hard climb back, and it will be years before the economy is back to where it was. Others say that in order for the UK to repay

Here is our first attempt to comprehensively summarise all the arguments for and against house prices going up in the future. House prices always go up. Did you know that in 1930 the average house price was £590. See this link According to a parliamentary report a pound in 1998 would have been worth around 0.03