Over the last two decades, many of us have felt the gradual and expanding involvement of technological information and the internet in our lives. However, more often than not, we fail to appreciate the subtle and pervasive implications these developments may have for the ways we think and behave. The accumulation of information, from the growing expansion of the trivial to the serious aspects of life that are recorded in databases (e.g. financial, medical or legal records, online habits) and the increasing sophistication of computer technology converge to confer to data and information a new and interesting role in the lives of people and the functioning of institutions. Information is not any longer confined within the world of computer-based experts.
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On October 25th 2007 the Wall Street Journal published a blistering attack on Europe entitled “Regulatory Imperialism”. The editorial took issue with Europe’s intent to force its norms on the rest of the world by taking advantage of the dynamism of its internal market both affluent and attractive and in addition highly organized. Examples cited included the Microsoft Affair, the ban on the importation of chlorine-rinsed poultry, the Reach legislation on chemical products, as well as the plan to tax airline companies as part of the battle against climate change.
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In the wake of the credit crunch banks’ capital cushions have deflated dangerously. And, in response, some have turned to one group of investors untouched by subprime credit or by mark-to-market reporting requirements: sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). Is this a good, or a worrying development?
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Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are not a new phenomenon. With its Caisse des Dépots et Consignations, France essentially set up a SWF in 1816! But SWFs have recently grown both in number and size, and now exceed the combined assets of hedge funds and private equity. The rapid growth in SWFs is closely linked to the prevailing global macroeconomic imbalances, and that means that SWFs will be around for some time to come. Even under the assumption that global imbalances unwind over the next ten years and commodity and oil prices revert to long-term averages, SWFs will continue to deploy substantial financial assets in the global market place.
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The past few weeks have been economically challenging for economists who live in or deal with Germany. For starters, the parliament just passed a minimum wage for postal workers. Second, the country is in the grips of a national discussion of “the excesses of managerial pay”- and a significant number of politicians have argued for caps on executive pay – maximum wages! And precisely because the quality of economic discourse surrounding these issues is so abysmal, one may need to think twice when assessing whether Germany has made any fundamental progress on labor market reforms.
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Two speeches, two languages, two mindsets, two audiences: one looming battle over the future of Europe? UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband's speech in Bruges on 15 November and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's speech to the European Parliament two days earlier could hardly be more different in their tone, style and vocabulary. Each, clearly, had the other in its sights.
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The dollar’s steady slip over the past few years has turned into a vertical drop. The immediate catalyst for the accelerated decline is the growing perception that the credit crunch has pushed the US Federal Reserve against a wall and the Fed will opt to take risks with the dollar rather than with economic activity, especially given the heightened political environment. Of course, part of the dynamic here is uncertainty and a high level of mistrust of each other's credit in the financial sector and time will reduce this uncertainty, but in the mean time opportunistic investors - those who wile away the hours hunting for conflicted policy makers  -  believe they have a conflicted policy maker firmly in their sights today.
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