Imagine a business that could charge anyone who just happened to pass by its shop window. Does that sound like a business that would strive to become better, more customer-friendly, and more service-oriented? Read more

New Zealand’s supermarket chains often get bad press and are suspiciously eyed by the public because, allegedly, they form a duopoly. With this characterisation comes the innuendo that they might be ripping off either their customers, their suppliers or both. Read more

In that faraway wonderland that it is the eurozone, nothing is quite what it seems. It is a strange place where half-bankrupt governments can plan a return to capital markets at moderate yields, and a central bank is able to impress analysts by talking about things it cannot do. Both instances are patently absurd, but just because something is absurd has never stopped it from happening in Europe. Read more

If you are familiar with Harry Enfield’s legendary BBC television series, there was a character called Jürgen the German. A tourist to London, he started every conversation with an apology “for my country’s disgraceful behaviour during ze war” – only to then rant on about what’s wrong with Britain. Read more

By all measures, it was a defeat of historic proportions for President François Hollande and his Socialist Party. Last weekend’s French local elections have turned the country upside down, or rather shifted it to the political right. Read more

The first management book I ever read, back in the late 1980s, was the sequel to In Search of Excellence, the book that established Tom Peters as the world’s leading management guru. A friend had given it to me. Read more

The Prime Minister visited Europe this week. After meetings with European Union leaders, John Key announced that – finally – a free trade deal between New Zealand and the EU was on the table. Read more

Given the troubles of Europe’s welfare states, it is hard to deny that large public sectors have a negative impact on economic growth. Where government grows too big it crowds out private activity, redirects resources from productive to unproductive uses, and stifles the economy with extra regulation and bureaucracy. Read more

Over the past decades, being a shareholder in Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG, one of Europe’s largest utility companies, was a pleasurable thing. Recessions and upswings came and went, but one thing was certain: each financial year, RWE would post a decent profit. Read more

Malta must be an exceptionally well-governed country. In the latest Eurobarometer opinion poll, only 53 per cent of Maltese said they tended not to trust their political parties. Read more

The New Zealand economy is undoubtedly in good shape but not all the factors behind the boom can or should be sustained indefinitely. This raises two questions: How much is temporary? Read more

There are a few relationships in economics that are almost set in stone, with the odd exception to the rule. If supply increases, prices fall. Read more

On Tuesday, I spoke at a conference organised by our sponsor, PortfolioConstruction Forum. The audience were mainly Australian and New Zealand investment advisors and wealth managers and my topic was the state of their respective economies. Read more

No, it was not a good start to the year for the European Union by any account. The French President had to spend more time sorting out his own private affairs than his country’s ailing economy, Italy managed to kick out the third Prime Minister in as many years, and the German Constitutional Court effectively killed the European Central Bank’s main policy to save the Euro. Read more

Admittedly, judgements by the German constitutional court can sometimes be hard to understand. Last week’s ruling to pass on the matter of the European Central Bank’s bond purchases to the European Court of Justice is no exception. Read more