Margaret Thatcher, the formidable former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of its Conservative Party, died this week at age 87, and even in death she remains controversial and divisive. I met the Iron Lady only in her less ferrous...

Why would anyone in their right mind wade into the debate on bankers' pay who did not himself work for a bank? This is the unusual place in which I find myself, drawn irresistibly by the proposed EU legislation which seeks to cap bankers' bonuses at...

Perhaps I noticed it more starkly because I was sick and working a reduced schedule this week. Frankly with two kids in New York City private schools I usually ignore the daily onslaught of emails announcing school raffles, parent coffee mornings, walks...

Before I left for Winter holidays, I gave the keynote address at the annual fundraiser for the Japanese Chamber of Commerce In New York. I reproduce below the text of my talk. What Japan’s Lost Decade(s) Can Teach the West Thank you – it is...

Here is my latest post to The Economist's Lean Back 2.0 blog, reproduced for convenience below. Major events that occur in the physical world like Hurricane Sandy often remind me of how far we have come as a society in the great analog-to-digital...

I cannot remember a US Presidential campaign in which the debates between the candidates and their running mates have drawn so much attention, both from the public and the commentariat. Watching the three debates to date, I was reminded how free with...

Over the long Columbus Day weekend in the US, I participated in a conference held on beautiful Nantucket Island named, appropriately enough, The Nantucket Project (www.nantucketproject.com). Now you might well be thinking why does the world need yet...

France may be the birthplace of Cartesian logic; however, these rationalist roots are nowhere to be seen in President Hollande's proposed economic and tax policies. I have written before in this blog to criticize then candidate Hollande's plan to reduce...

Another exceptional Sun Valley conference courtesy of the publicity-shy Allen & Co. What goes on in Sun Valley stays in Sun Valley — those are the rules of the road. While the grateful invitees by and large respect these rules, certain of the attendees...

I have been watching the sad progression of events in the Barclays Bank LIBOR drama and, true to form, have a few unfashionable observations to make. I won't here repeat what is known of the facts of the case other than to state what is accepted: Barclays...

I was asked by The Economist magazine (they call it a newspaper, but this is a small conceit for a publication I hugely admire) to contribute to their new Lean Back 2.0 Blog. My first piece can be found at The iPad and the future of paper. I encourage...

For the last several years, I have been writing about the threats posed by the over-indebted West. These are not only threats to the economies of Europe and the US, but also to the very political foundations of these states. While the United States...

While I was growing up in New York I watched a lot of television despite the admonitions of my school teachers . My two favorite programs were Star Trek (the original series) -- yes, I'm that old, and Hogan's Heroes. The latter show was very funny but...

What if every wrong does not have a remedy; every pain, a pill; every injury, a cause of action? What if, in each case, the cure were worse than the illness? This is a tough choice for government and for the governed. It requires great legislative,...

I have written frequently in this blog about many countries I admire, most recently Brazil. However, there is only one country to which I am very attached and in which I have lived, worked and owned property, but which has not featured prominently in...

As the faithful readers of this blog can attest I have been an ardent fan of Brazil and Brazilians before it was obvious that the country had "emerged." As I wrote in April 2007 in Is it Brazil's Time?, the running joke about Brazil had been that Brazil...

I have been making the trip to the not so quaint town of Davos, Switzerland for over 10 years to attend the annual World Economic Forum, and 2012 was no exception. Once again, Mid-East peace was not achieved; global warming was not halted and the haves...

This post has been a long time in the making, and for good reason. Don't get me wrong; it did not take long to write as I believe firmly in these ideas and the words came easily, but it took me a long time to overcome the many good reasons I have always...

I find it amusing that the increasingly desperate Romney-chasers among the remaining US Republican presidential candidates are working overtime to attack the front-runner for his leadership of Bain Capital in the 1980s and 1990s. While not a blind supporter...

I write at the end of a wonderful two week holiday with the family. I would be interested to hear from the readers of this blog as to whether any of you have ever had the following thought. When a long vacation begins I often feel like time has slowed...

Debt and equity are common terms from the financial world, but I argue below we should begin thinking of our politics in this way as well. Debt is commonly defined as an obligation (usually to repay money) owed by one party to another. As such its terms...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the following issue: Why does it seem so difficult to turn sound economic policy into political action (i.e., results) in the United States and other established democracies? There are many versions of this complaint....

Over the summer two seemingly unrelated developments caught my eye. First, a collection of Continental European officials urged their governments to ban the short selling of securities. Second, a member of Parliament called for the ban of Twitter and...

Apologies for not having posted in a while -- it's been a busy summer. I did manage to spend time with the family, play some decent tennis, read a couple of good books (Feast of the Goat by Vargas Llosa and Cutting for Stone by Verghese) and watch the...

As regular readers of this blog are only too well aware, I am a passionate promoter of technology and internet-based businesses.  However, there is at least one dimension in which the elephantine memory of the internet can be a nuisance -- incorrect information,...