The world economy is in crisis – at least that’s the impression you get from the business news. Europe’s monetary union is falling apart. Read more

It was Thomas Jefferson who once said that "those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one”. In today’s euro crisis, this quote needs to be modified: Those who desire to give up democracy in order to gain economic stability may also end up empty-handed. Read more

Saving the euro from collapse must be a fulltime job for economists working at the European Central Bank (ECB) and its national member banks. At least so I thought. Read more

After last week’s decisive EU summit (the 20th of its kind), and after the German parliament’s support for the latest bailout plans, the euro is saved! Again. Read more

One day I will write a book about countries and their irrational fears. The English are convinced they are running out of land – when less than 10 per cent of the country is developed. Read more

For a committed market liberal it was a strange experience. There I was hoping for an election victory of the radical Syriza party in Greece’s general election. Read more

Far, far from the troubles at the home front, Prime Minister John Key was visibly enjoying the military honours and his joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on his visit to Berlin last week. A better use of his time would have been studying the effects of delaying superannuation reforms. Although last month’s Budget once again confirmed the rising costs of superannuation, the prime minister ruled out reneging on his 2008 campaign promise not to increase the age of eligibility. Read more

Far, far from the troubles at the home front, Prime Minister John Key was visibly enjoying the military honours and his joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel on his visit to Berlin last week. A better use of his time would have been studying the effects of delaying superannuation reforms. Although last month’s budget once again confirmed the rising costs of superannuation, the Prime Minister ruled out reneging on his 2008 campaign promise not to increase the age of eligibility. Read more

Saying something genuinely new on the euro crisis is getting more difficult as time passes. The problems never change, only the sums involved. Read more

“A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.” That’s not a new research finding but a quote by Aristotle (384-322 BC). It opened an event on Dunedin’s Economic Development Strategy on Tuesday, which I attended as a guest speaker. Read more

Newspapers are reporting increasing pressure from Germany for Spain to accept a European bailout. The story is all the more credible as the Spanish government, refusing a bailout, has strongly denied any such bullying. Read more

Analysing the link between the Holocaust and the European crisis is far more interesting than solving the crisis. At least if you are German. Read more

As a newcomer to New Zealand, one of the biggest surprises to me was the degree of polarisation I perceived in its political discourse. In the complex world of 21st century globalisation the way in which debates are still conducted as "Left versus Right" is not only anachronistic. Read more