Epidemics: The R Factor and Public Policy Choices
In my last post, I kind of assumed knowledge of how the R factor works and what it is. If you already know, you can skip this post. But I […]
COVID: Stop Arguing About the Physics; The Maths Has It
COVID related social restrictions aren’t there to protect you today. They won’t move the dial much on that point. They are there to protect us all in the medium term. This article explains the mathematics of why we need these measures even if the personal COVID risks are already at a risk level that’s “acceptable” without them.
Standard Operating Procedures for Dictators (*), First Edition
Very shortly after the Brexit Referendum, I blogged about how it is not such a good idea to hold referenda at which irreversible decisions are able to be made by […]
Doubt Kills More Dreams Than Failure; Thank God For That!
“Doubt Kills More Dreams Than Failure” is a quote by Suzy Kassem, apparently. I admit I don’t know her, but the quote jumped out at me on a LinkedIn Post […]
How to Protect a Democracy
What’s going on in the UK right now is already old hat: Scotland possibly planning another referendum, the young feeling disenfranchised by a ‘democratic’ vote, and MPs scratching their heads […]
Tax Treaty Changes: The Swansong of High-Tax Europe
Two big changes in international tax treaties have been in the works for some time: the BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Action Plan by the OECD, and debates within […]
Debt Restructuring or Default
If you can’t pay from own resources, this is what it comes down to, eventually. It’s definitely not a question of it, but of when. An article in Handelsblatt today […]
Design Flaws of the Euro, Part 1: The ECB
In many posts I refer much too briefly to the ‘misconstructed’ currency union. I think I need to dedicate a series now to explain in more detail what I mean […]
The Media Turn Against Schaeuble, but Too Late
This is significant. The hashtag #Thisisacoup is trending massively on Twitter, leading Hugo Dixon, a keen observer of the Greek crisis, to suggest that the Eurozone in general is losing the […]
The Real Reason Varoufakis had to Go
Varoufakis was too clever to understand politics. It is three years ago that I had an exchange with him on his blog about needing credible threats if one wanted to play […]
How Will Merkel Square Her Circle?
Here is a quote from Ryszard Legutko, MEP from the conservative group ECR: So if this piece de theatre continues I think we will be more and more confused about […]
Time to get Angry with Tsipras
I am in utter disbelief: There was an emergency Eurogroup finance ministers meeting, and there will be a Eurogroup leaders meeting in an hour, and Greece turned up without a […]
A simple message to Europe: From Greece, With Love
Here is what Tsipras should say to Europe. No fancy victory lap rhetoric, just the facts: Greek voters have made their view clear. There is not even a single electoral […]
The IMF Says Vote No
The IMF has left the realms of delusion over Greek debt sustainability. It now has admitted that it failed to realise the damage austerity would do. In other words the deal which […]
Greece: Why is it so Important? (Part 2)
With Greece defaulting tomorrow, my post two weeks ago “Greece: Why is it so important?” seems more eerily prescient than I feared back then. I said the Greek government isn’t […]
Why Greeks should vote No
The game of chicken is over. There is no stepping back from the promise of a referendum, and if there is a future ‘deal’, it won’t be with the current […]
The Effects of Austerity: Ireland vs Greece
Before the next crunch-time comes for Grexit negotiations on Monday, let’s study why austerity hasn’t worked in Greece, and why Ireland, by contrast, didn’t seem to have suffered adverse consequences. The openness […]
Greece: Why is it so important?
It’s often been said in the last days that Greece represents less than 2% of the Eurozone’s GDP, so we shouldn’t spend so much energy on the whole Greek situation, […]
For Whom Tolls the Bell?
In an inversion of the closing of Tsipras’ op-ed in Le Monde, we might ask: Does the bell really toll for Europe, or just for Greece? The game of the […]
Varoufakis and Game Theory
Much has been made of the Greek Finance Minister’s credentials in game theory. Because I commute to Greece a lot, and because I’ve had some exchanges with Yanis Varoufakis on […]
The Sustainability Report 
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