Publications

Although the global economic performance shows signs of improvement, growth remains fragile. Certainly, lower energy costs contribute to slowing down the rise in prices and this is good news for…

WP 2023-04. Executive Summary Among libertarians, it has been conventional to define the minimal state as a state that enforces contracts and employs coercion to prevent force and fraud only.…

Questionable business models in Fintech have been exposed, as predicted, in response to rising interest rates.  In Europe, the UK and US, rates have risen from near zero levels at…

Introduction The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) backstops the euro. Its nominal size is €705 billion but its lending capacity is lower at €500 billion, and the main condition attached to…

La Niña has gone, and El Niño is back. They are natural phenomena originating in the Pacific Ocean and affect the weather all around the world. La Niña cools global…

Gambling, alongside tobacco and alcohol, is often regarded as a vice. The main reason behind this view is that gamblers often overlook the full extent of the costs involved in…

UK Consumer Price Inflation remained at 8.7% in May. The Bank of England has raised the cost of overnight money to 5% via increases in its Base Rate, and has…

Is Newspeak just a piece of the dystopia imagined by Orwell, or is it a realistic representation of a typical ambition of political power, connected with the will to influence…

Since the beginning of March, US regulators have closed and sold three banks: Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic. The failures are the biggest to hit the US…

Introduction Central banks have undertaken many investigations, pilots and proofs-of-concept into Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), proving little beyond the lack of a convincing case in their favour, but unearthing…