Economics

Milton Friedman – economic visionary or scourge of the world?

13 January 2024 9:00 am

Monetarism, with which his name is associated, has long defined economic policy. But what would Friedman have made of the banking collapse, so soon after his death in 2006?

What was banned this week?

6 January 2024 9:00 am

Has crypto finally had its day?

14 October 2023 9:00 am

It was a born of a specific macroclimate of low interest rates following the global financial crisis – but all that is melting away and, in the case of crypto, not before time

The lesson of Looney: every board should prepare for scandal

23 September 2023 9:00 am

Bernard Looney, the fallen BP chief, always had a certain swagger about him. I’ve no idea whether he was unsafe…

Barometer

19 August 2023 9:00 am

Will Brits feel richer if inflation halves?

9 August 2023 3:10 am

The government’s objective to ‘halve inflation’ by the end of the year seems to be back on track – for…

How to increase your home’s value – with a sandwich

29 July 2023 9:00 am

It is a tenet of neo-liberal economics that there is no such thing as a free lunch. This is obvious…

Russia’s complex relationship with the ruble

29 July 2023 9:00 am

The first banknotes were greeted with deep suspicion in 1769 – but it was nothing to the distrust that Soviet and post-Soviet issues aroused

Liz Truss: my part in her downfall

29 October 2022 9:00 am

Her former economic adviser on what went wrong

Can you feel sorry for Liz Truss?

17 October 2022 5:00 pm

It is not easy to feel sorry for Liz Truss. She has a deeply unattractive streak of vanity – when…

Truss says no to spending cuts. Here’s the caveat

12 October 2022 11:44 pm

The mini-Budget was a spending spree. The ‘medium-term fiscal plan’ was meant to explain the funding. But what exactly is…

What crisis? A tough week for Trussonomics

1 October 2022 9:00 am

A tough week for Trussonomics

Will Liz Truss take on the IMF?

28 September 2022 6:25 am

Tonight the International Monetary Fund has weighed in on the UK’s mini-Budget, offering a direct rebuke of Liz Truss and…

Why football needs a regulator

27 September 2022 3:30 pm

Plans by the government to introduce a regulator to the football industry – endorsed by all Westminster parties just a…

Can the Bank of England inspire confidence?

27 September 2022 2:54 am

It has dawned on the government that last week’s mini-Budget might have been a bit too one-sided: £70 billion worth…

How worrying is the falling pound?

24 September 2022 3:46 am

How are markets responding to Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget? A sharp fall in the pound today has plenty of critics arguing…

Who is Gordon Brown to pose as the voice of fiscal sanity?

12 August 2022 7:13 pm

Gordon Brown is demanding Parliament be recalled for an emergency budget. By October, he says, quoting a study he commissioned…

Is the US in recession?

29 July 2022 1:27 am

There’s an almighty debate ongoing in the US about what exactly a ‘recession’ is. Regardless of semantics, the numbers are…

Read: the new Chancellor's interview with the BBC

6 July 2022 8:27 pm

This is an edited transcript of the interview with the new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi on the Today programme this morning. Nick Robinson: You…

Inflation is a social evil, so why don't our leaders care?

22 June 2022 9:32 pm

It was a ‘destroyer of society’, a ‘tax on ordinary people’s savings’ and a threat to social order. You don’t…

The deep roots of global inequality

11 June 2022 9:00 am

Thomas Piketty, the French economist who shot to fame for writing a colossal work of economics that many people bought…

Has liberalism destroyed itself?

14 May 2022 9:00 am

According to Vladimir Putin, liberalism is an ‘obsolete’ doctrine, a worn-out political philosophy no longer fit for purpose. In this…