PARIS: The bailout of the financial system was a bizarre moment in economic history, for it benefited those who benefited most from the markets' irrational exuberance - the bosses of financial firms. Before the crisis hit, however, redistribution of (...)
Some academic works, for reasons that are at least partly obscure, leave a persistent trace in intellectual history. Such is the case with John Maynard Keynes's paper "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. The importance of Keynes's paper (...)
Once, as I picked up the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen at his hotel, the receptionist asked me if I was his driver. After hesitating, I nodded yes. Among my various identities that day, that of driver was the most obvious to her.
This (...)
One puzzling and often overlooked feature of the France that elected Nicolas Sarkozy as its new president, and that gave his political allies a clear if not overpowering parliamentary mandate, is its mix of private optimism and public pessimism. (...)
