ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 75 PARTS 1 & 2 PART 1 – “SAVINGS: more important than the unstable money that measures it” I am typing this in the SAA Business Lounge of Durban airport, awaiting a call to board a flight to Johannesburg, where we are due to take the last flight to London before all […]

EMILE WOOLF – ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 66 We are well into the protest season. The long run-up to the election period has been characterised by one protest after another – no-deal Brexit, climate change, arms sales, Tommy Robinson, police brutality, capitalism, Trump’s visit, fracking, Catalan, Hong Kong and Eritrean sympathisers, and so on … and on. […]

By Emile Woolf [ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 55] A couple of months back, in the context of blaming the government’s inflexibility for its failure to achieve a deal with the EU over Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn railed against the Tory Party, declaring that it “actually wants to turn this country into a deregulated, low-tax society that will […]

GOING POSTAL – 15 OCTOBER 2018 DEBUNKING ECONOMIC MYTHOLOGY – PART 2   <EP4> THE INFLATION CONUNDRUM Typically, the general public confuses any economic phenomenon with its manifestation. Both are thought of as the same thing. For example, the phenomenon “inflation” is assumed to mean the same thing as its manifestation, which is rising prices. The […]

Having seen the nature and causes of unsound money, what can we say about sound money? It is money that can be trusted, by anyone and everyone who uses it. Trusted to do what? Trusted to retain its purchasing power. what matters is what money can buy After all, what matters is what money can […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 20 – August 2017   BUFFERS FOR DUFFERS! Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, tells us that “this time it’s different” because the capital “buffers” (amounts that lending banks must retain in their free reserves) now imposed by central banks will prevent a banking crisis similar to the sub-prime implosion that […]

Economic Perspectives – 8 THE DOLLAR IS NOT FOREVER [This follows on from my previous essay in this series, and explores alternatives to dollar hegemony, and possible outcomes, in a little more detail. I am again indebted to Professor Patrick Barron for the insights expressed in his March 2016 ‘podcasts’ that inspired these two essays […]

The inflation conundrum As an economic term, “inflation” is shorthand for “inflation of the money supply”. The general public, however, usually takes it to mean “rising prices” which is not surprising since one of the common effects of an increase in the money supply is higher prices. However, supporters of government policy often say, “If […]

“Expert” is defined as a  person whose research, knowledge and experience accords them the respect of  their peers in a well-distinguished domain. Economics is just such a domain, yet the degree of diversity in the views of  so-called experts can be astonishing. Take one of today’s most topical issues: will a UK exit from the […]

The financial maelstrom afflicting much of Europe and the USA is a phenomenon without precedent. It hasn’t happened before. Not as pervasively, nor for as long. Shoots of growth appear, then wither. Some economies are “up”; others are on the brink of calamity. The Oracle at Delphi pronounced Socrates to be the wisest of men […]