Nigel Farage is overjoyed. His United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP, came second in the South Shields by-election of early May 2013. In the local elections of 2 May, it increased its number of councillors by 1738% (to 147, up from 8). It gained 23% of the overall popular vote, narrowly behind the Tories’ 25% and … Continue reading
Rapid economic growth leads to environmental degradation and thus by definition a decrease in the quantity of natural capital, thereby directly hampering sustainable development by reducing future generations’ ability to produce the same level of output produced today. This is a particularly pressing concern for Estonia, which ranks twenty-third among EU states in terms of … Continue reading
Rapid economic growth is the largest constraint on the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of Estonia as it directly counteracts the first, third and fourth objectives of the Estonian government’s plan for sustainable development, or the aims of achieving a coherent society, ecological balance and a viable cultural space. In the immediate future, the … Continue reading
In a very memorable scene of the 2010 movie ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’, a Michael Douglas aka Gordon Gekko (‘Greed is good’) visibly suffering from cancer gives a speech about the 2008 crash and the ‘NINJA generation’ in front of a college audience. The catchy acronym stands for: ‘No income, no job, no assets.’ … Continue reading
In the age of an impotent World Trade Organisation, Chinese currency manipulation and tariffs and quotas galore, such a ray of sunshine as the proposed American-European free trade pact should be greeted with fanfares and salutations. Such a deal might cement the predominance of the Western free market capitalism over the protected state capitalism of … Continue reading
Cyprus, a small island divided into a Turkish-occupied north and a Greek-Cypriot south, might be a rather odd reason to fear for the Eurozone again. The economy of the Greek-Cypriot south measures a paltry €17 billion, or 0.2% of Eurozone output. The first Cypriot bailout proposal numbered a mere €10 billion – a rather laughable … Continue reading
This House Believes a Financial Transaction Tax Would Do More Harm than Good – Felix Ladies and gentlemen, honourable judges, esteemed jury: We convene here today to discuss, to unveil and to resolutely determine the causes, nature and consequences of this seemingly ineradicable idea that is the imposition of a financial transactions tax (FTT) proposed … Continue reading
Society and business work along some basic guidelines, many of which can be found mirrored in human nature. One such is that, as incentives improve, you are more and more willing to do something better and better. Sweeten the carrot and your worker will be more productive. The same works the other way around as … Continue reading
India has over the past fifteen years grown rapidly; from 1996 to 2011, it grew at an average rate of 7% a year. However, this growth was neither beneficial to all social groups nor evenly distributed across the country. Indeed, the average economic growth rate of 7% masks at times very large regional differences. The … Continue reading
Doom and gloom reigns supreme in many European newspapers – not just because there has been a wealth of scandals across the continent and beyond, but also because it makes us feel better about ourselves. Reading that Greece may default soon releases an endorphin dose into our circuits. It’s not that bad here, after all, … Continue reading
merchinomics 