London's not yet ready to love its bankers

Tony Curzon Price 16 October 2012

The author finds himself debating whether the intelligence squared forum in London should vote to "love its Bankers", in a meeting well-stocked with the subject themselves.

Fidite Nemini, trust no one

Pawel Wargan 8 September 2012

The big banks seem to have come out of the financial meltdown relatively undamaged, if not stronger than ever. But could they have irretrievably lost an asset more precious than money, their consumers' trust, in the process?

The post-Lehman financial system is its own source of risk - so why put up with it?

Tony Curzon Price 16 July 2012

The cost of credit to the financial system is now higher than it is for industrials. The financial system has become a source of autonomous risk. Why do we need it, then?

"But you told me I could, Sir". Bob Diamond's "bent for the job" defence

Tony Curzon Price 4 July 2012

Bob Diamond, ex-Barclays chief, defends himself by saying he got a nod and a wink from the Bank of England and the Treasury, all of whom were happy to see LIBOR fixing as a "noble lie". It wasn't. The lie just shows how ignoble was the system it sought to uphold.

Harder than cracking Diamond

Tony Curzon Price 3 July 2012

The resignation of the Barclays chief, if welcome, should not be allowed to obscure the need for fundamental reform. And Britain - that large hedge-fund with a small country attached - is deeper in need of it than anyone else.

A Manifesto for Economic Sense

Richard Layard and Paul Krugman 28 June 2012
The economic lessons of the 1930s need not be repeated. Two of the world's leading economists ask us to sign a manifesto for common sense

Credit rating agencies: the wrong institutions for public judgement

Tony Curzon Price 16 January 2012
Whether the ratings agencies get this or that decision right or wrong - they were probably right in the case of the European downgrades - is not the point. They have become the buck-passing agencies for weakened states. The most important public judgements of credit-worthiness ought to be made in public institutions, not behind corporate doors

Is inflation a good tax? Can we have an honest political discussion about it?

Julian Sayarer 30 December 2011
UK inflation at 5% is considered almost a victory by the economic managers of the nation. Yet it is a blunt instrument with strong redistributive effects. So what is a well-managed currency, and can we have an honest political discussion about it?

Blame the speculator, shoot the messenger: habits of the trapped politician

Michael Bullen 23 September 2011
Sergio Bruno makes much of the recent rise in the cost of borrowing for the Italian government, blaming speculation for the disruption to public finances. But investors have every reason to be worried, and it is in our interest that they act on these worries

Money, public debt and the Euro: defences against fragmentation

Sergio Bruno 20 September 2011
Roger Scruton (Unreal Estates) argues for a remoralised economy in response to Europe's debt crisis. But this is fully consistent with a strong defence of the Euro, of strong central action against speculators and of political reform and rejuvenation of Europe's institutions

A return to financial health is simple: Glass Steagall plus transparency

Michael Bullen 16 September 2011
Financial regulation in the wake of the credit crisis is a simpler matter than the re-moralising advocated by Roger Scruton (Unreal Estates). Simply return to the regulatory environment pre-1999 and press on with transparency in markets

Freedom to re-invent financial reality

Tony Curzon Price 14 September 2011
The fictions of finance gives us freedom to change what might seem like externally determined constraints; but we certainly need political systems that are better at exercising that freedom. A reply to Roger Scruton's Unreal Estates

Unreal Estate

Roger Scruton 12 September 2011
The legal fiction of the "corporate person" has helped economic growth through making possible limited liability, fractional reserve banking, insurance and many other fictions. But it has also made it easier to divorce the moral realities of debt and obligation from economic fictions. The endless economic crisis suggests that it is time for a return to a moral understanding the underpinnings of the financial fictions

Fellow Britons! Remember: the banks still owe their survival to us. Let's use that power well

Tony Curzon Price 19 December 2010
Without massive ongoing public support the banks will fail. We should take the consequences seriously, they extend much further than bonuses

Ha-Joon Chang in conversation with Tony Curzon Price on "23 Things they don't tell you about capitalism", students, strikes and legitimacy as a public good

Tony Curzon Price and Ha-Joon Chang 18 December 2010
A wide-ranging conversation recorded in Cambridge, England, on November 29th 2010. Ha-Joon Chang discusses students, strikes, economic ideologies, what to do with finance, with power, nations, global governance and more

Euro: Writing on the wall?

Our debate about the euro and the euro zone crisis.

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