Publications

Dalrymple’s book is strangely self-contradictory. He mourns the cultural, social, political and economic decline of Europe while questioning the severity of the two fundamental causes of that decline. The New Vichy Syndrome is still worth reading. Only a brilliant thinker like Dalrymple could manage to write a seriously flawed book that still offers scores of profound insights to provoke further thought and reflection.

If international markets or European politicians want to know the future of the euro, they better not ask Germany’s constitutional court. Especially on Greek affairs, the Oracle of Delphi may give a much clearer answer.

THE global financial crisis has shaken the belief that economics can tell us anything worthwhile about human nature. Given this sad image of economics, it is refreshing to see that there are still economists out there who have something worthwhile to say. Even if it is only about soccer.

Once upon a time, a European traveller’s wallet used to be as colourful as the Eurovision Song Contest. Europe can only hope for the return of that splendid monetary diversity. And who would want to listen to the same daggy tune 27 times in a row anyway?

The enormous Swiss currency reserves are a direct result of the euro crisis as the SNB is fighting an uphill battle to stabilise the Swiss Franc against the weakening euro. Switzerland’s central bank soaks up euros and sells off francs on a massive scale.

As long as the Germans pretend that the current crisis was caused by speculation and not by inherent flaws of the European project, this crisis will not pass. They can ban short selling, regulate credit default swaps or outlaw hedge funds all they like, but this will not solve the competitiveness problems of Club Med countries.

The Red Tape Trading Scheme would make it possible to reduce administrative burdens without a top-down strategy. Instead, it would give incentives to bureaucrats to spot opportunities to still achieve the same goals of regulations but with less bureaucracy.

For many years now, trading schemes have been used as mechanisms to reduce environmental pollution. The principal idea behind such schemes is that they allow emissions to be cut where it is least costly. A similar idea could be applied in the area of better regulation.