Insights

The Pope and the market

Contrary to what Pope Francis believes, markets are not about increasing individual profits but about allocating scarce resources. And then they effectively deal with those environmental problems that the pontiff can only preach about. […]

Business Spectator

It’s Groundhog Day for Greece

The Greek situation will only change for the better once the country is allowed to do what it should have done five years ago: default on its debt, leave the eurozone and regain competitiveness by devaluing its new currency. […]

Business Spectator

Germany’s Greek stance keeps everyone guessing

There is only one thing that unites all German politicians: They do not want to take the blame for whatever happens next. If Greece drops out of the eurozone, that will be fine — as long as it is clear that it was all Greece’s fault and had nothing to do with Germany. […]

Uncategorised

No good choices left in Greek crisis

If Europe’s political elites had allowed the Greek crisis to run its course in 2010, Greece would be recovering by now. Instead they have made such a mess of it that this tiny country will continue to haunt international meetings for a long time to come. […]

Business Spectator

Public broadcasting is poor economics

In a world of hundreds of TV channels, internet streaming services and encrypted broadcasting, why do we still have giant public broadcasters? This is the question that German economists Justus Haucap, Christiane Kehder and Ina Loebert ask in a new paper for the Berlin-based think tank Prometheus Institute. […]

Insights

De-mathematising New Zealand

Changing teaching methods in maths have failed to improve our primary students’ maths performance. But it is not just basic, elementary mathematics that we should be concerned about. […]

Business Spectator

After the crisis is before the crisis

Crunch time or not, the Greek crisis will remain with us for much longer. There is no way it will be resolved once and for all this week. It has been promised to us too often over the past five years. […]