The Arab Spring And The Changing Balance Of Global Power
More than three years have passed since Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in the Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid and inadvertently lit the spark
The Swiss Referendum, Free Movement, Xenophobia, and Substitution Effects
Of course, it is not easy to strike a fair balance when qualifying the Swiss referendum of 9 February 2014: Is it all about xenophobia
How A German Sovereign Wealth Fund Could Help To Rebalance The Eurozone
Germany is on the dock, big time. In its 2013 ‘Alert Mechanism Report’ the European Commission announced that Germany jointly with Luxembourg would have to
How To Make EU Governance More Effective
Recently I was asked to speak somewhere in The Netherlands about Croatia and the European democracy debate. Of course I did not get very far
Death To Machines?
At the start of the Industrial Revolution, textile workers in the Midlands and the North of England, mainly weavers, staged a spontaneous revolt, smashing machinery
On German Public Opinion And Illusional ECB Power
After taking a short breather in late January-early February, the markets now seem to be back in ‘happy mode’. Whether the news on the economic
Inequality, Productivity, and WhatsApp
If you ever wonder what’s fueling America’s staggering inequality, ponder Facebook’s acquisition of the mobile messaging company WhatsApp . According to news reports yesterday, Facebook has agreed
Britain’s, Not France’s, Middle Class Is Being ‘Run Into The Dust’
While France and Britain cooperate on multiple fronts, the Cameron government is not above using its neighbor as a political foil. Grant Shapps, conservative party
Why Cameron’s ‘Red Card’ Plan For National Parliaments Won’t Work
David Cameron has committed the UK to renegotiating its membership of the European Union if he wins a majority at the next British general election.
It’s Time For Social-Democracy To Exit The Twentieth Century
There are a lot of good ideas being generated among social-democratic thinkers these days and, although this article is going to be critical in many
The Fed, The Dollar And The Damage Done
The US Federal Reserve is being widely blamed for the recent eruption of volatility in emerging markets. But is the Fed just a convenient whipping
Europe, The European Union And European Identity
The European Union can only be understood against the backdrop of the catastrophic history of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. The
Economic Stagnation By Design
Soon after the global financial crisis erupted in 2008, I warned that unless the right policies were adopted, Japanese-style malaise – slow growth and near-stagnant
Why We Need Basket Eurobonds
The Euro area is suffering from insufficient macroeconomic stabilisation At the end of 2009 the unemployment rates of the Euro area and the United States
A Brain’s View Of Economics
In his pathbreaking 2005 book On Intelligence, Jeff Hawkins proposed an alternative paradigm of how the human brain works. In his view, the brain is not
The Great War’s Long Shadow
This year marks the centennial of the outbreak of World War I, which is reason enough to reflect on what this seminal European catastrophe teaches
Why Increasing The Minimum Wage Does Not Necessarily Reduce Employment
Recent months have seen President Obama make a renewed push to address inequality in the U.S., especially via one policy lever he has focused on