In Western countries, we have assumed since the late eighteenth century that technological advances will continue to increase our living standards, and that any living standards convergence with emerging markets will be overwhelmed by greater prosperity for all. About five years ago I questioned this view in the short term, believing that modern communications technology […]

David Cameron’s unexpected and admirable victory last week has produced a Conservative government with an overall majority in the House of Commons and an obligation to arrange a referendum on British exit from the EU by 2017. Cameron undoubtedly intends to get as good a renegotiation deal from the EU as possible, and then put […]

Capitalism has never existed in its perfect from. Even in the late eighteenth century when Adam Smith wrote, apart from a number of mediaeval holdovers, there was the East India Company, which Smith himself regarded as a monster of corruption and government meddling. Similarly Pierpont Morgan regarded pure unfettered capitalism as inherently wasteful, and preferred […]

The U.S. Congress is being asked to give President Barack Obama full “fast track” negotiating authority for the Trans Pacific Partnership, supposedly a free trade agreement with 11 other mostly wealthy Pacific nations. Yet when you examine the Wiki-leaked version of TPP which is all we have, it is far more notable for the draconian […]