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“At least Germany is getting some good press recently,” a friendly businessman just told me a few days ago. “That’s quite a change from what we have seen before.” What he was referring to was the European refugee crisis, in which the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel was suddenly regarded as humane, caring and compassionate -- and not as brutal, egotistic and authoritarian as in its dealings with Greece. Read more

Sometimes it is easier to see things clearly the further you remove yourself from them. For me it has been like that with Europe. Read more

Five years ago, Alan Kohler kindly offered me a weekly slot to comment on the European economy. Since then, I have been covering the various aspects of the European debt crisis in more than 200 Business Spectator columns. Read more

Australia National University’s Dr. George Barker suggested that New Zealand could do well by strengthening its copyright legislation. He warned against the fair dealing exceptions that have crept into the law and asked, “Why not have copyright law like property law—i.e. Read more

Today's Top 10 is a guest post from Oliver Hartwich, the executive director of the New Zealand Initiative. 1) Brazil’s recession In case you have missed it, the world economy is in crisis mode. Read more

Just when the Europeans thought they had calmed down the euro crisis with their third bailout package for Greece, they are reminded of how fragile their economy still is. For a change, Europe’s new worries do not originate from the continent itself. Read more

If public policy and economic theory were dating, their Facebook relationship status might read “It’s complicated”. This is because what is sometimes simple to explain on a whiteboard by economists can often be difficult to prove in real life. Read more

You can tell how the mood of the global economy is turning by looking at the books getting published. Over the past few days, review copies of two new books landed on my desk. Read more

As the third Greek bailout package is currently being debated in eurozone parliaments, it is already becoming clear that it will not be sufficient. On Tuesday, the day before the Bundestag’s vote, two German broadsheets highlighted some of the uncertainties around the package. Read more