The hedge fund con explained
In 2008 the hedge fund industry lost more money than all the profits it had generated during the prior 10 years. If you don’t think that’s a con, by all means ring up your pension manager and tell him to divert more of your nest egg to these great value money managers
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Thursday, 2 May 2013 at 1:46 pm
Is austerity now “in the past”?
We’re £53bn through, with £52bn more spending cuts to come by 2015/16. What’s more, this is just the start of it. Because the UK’s growth prospects are so dismal there are going to be more cuts (or tax rises) needed by 2017/18.
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Friday, 22 March 2013 at 11:39 am
Cyprus? There but for the grace of God goes Britain
Cyrpus’ banking sector is grossly inflated with assets and liabilities at around €126bn, or 700% of the island’s GDP. Yet our own banking sector still has assets and liabilities equal to 450% of our GDP.
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Monday, 18 March 2013 at 12:16 pm
Why did the Office for Budget Responsibility get its forecasts wrong?
It’s possible that the massive shortfall in domestic business investment was a response to weak aggregate demand, as the Government’s deep capital expenditure cuts had a greater than expected impact on output.
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Thursday, 14 March 2013 at 12:51 pm
The bankers bonuses that George Osborne didn’t want you to see
Perhaps the Chancellor didn’t want us to see what a small number of grotesquely over-paid individuals he was batting for in Brussels this week.
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Friday, 8 March 2013 at 3:48 pm
The myth that bonuses make banks safer
Even in the biggest banking crisis in a century staff costs barely budged. A bank’s staff take home a more or less fixed proportion of its revenues come hell or high water.
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Tuesday, 5 March 2013 at 3:35 pm
The causes of Italy’s recession
Italy needs to overhaul its crony labour markets which penalise the young and inhibit long-term growth. But trying to claim that the present deep recession is a consequence of that long-standing macro dysfunction doesn’t add up.
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Monday, 4 March 2013 at 12:27 pm
The reason Italians voted for Berlusconi
Don’t they know that it was the heroic Monti that saved Italy from a bond market revolt in 2011 with his austerity and structural reforms? Don’t they know that it was Berlusconi that led Italy into the mire in the first place?
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Tuesday, 26 February 2013 at 12:09 pm
Martin Weale: NGDP target is playing with fire
Here’s the transcript of my interview with Martin Weale of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. The write-up will be published in The Independent tomorrow morning.
Highlights:
1) Warns that NGDP target likely to prove inflationary; emphasises practical problems of implementing
2) Says that QE “certainly not parked”
3) Sees no evidence that fiscal multipliers have been higher [...]
By Ben Chu | Eagle Eye, Econoblog | Wednesday, 30 January 2013 at 7:28 pm
The Europhobes trade on misinformation
I’m not sure why anyone would talk about the value of UK exports to the EU as a share of GDP (rather than as a share of total exports) unless the purpose is to obscure the importance of the EU as an export market.
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