Clark Center Forum

It’s been a long week for global financial markets. It at least has certainly felt that way.  Monday saw the largest daily fall in the value of Japanese equities since 1987, with the Topix index plunging by 12% followed by a rough day for European and North American exchanges and, for much of the day, […] 

Winston Churchill once remarked that “if you put two economists in a room, you get two opinions, unless one of them is Lord Keynes, in which case you get three opinions”. Sadly for policymakers, economists offering up multiple opinions and caveating even themselves has never been a uniquely British trait. Harry Truman became so sick […] 

Investment trends (or, if one is being unkind, ‘fads’) come and go. For much of the last two years artificial intelligence has been firmly in the spotlight. Before that the pandemic sparked a wave of interest in biosciences. In the late 2010s, the big trend seemed to be Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). But whilst media […] 

This US survey examines: (a) Capping annual rent increases by corporate landlords at 5%, as proposed by President Biden, would make middle-income Americans substantially better off over the next ten years; (b) Capping annual rent increases at 5%, as proposed by President Biden, would substantially reduce the amount of available apartments for rent over the next ten years; (c) Capping annual rent increases at 5%, as proposed by President Biden, would substantially reduce US income inequality over the next ten years 

This Finance survey examines (a) Public companies that pursue social and environmental initiatives bear no measurable costs (in terms of lower profits) relative to similar companies that do not pursue such initiatives; (b) Public companies that pursue social and environmental initiatives benefit from a measurably lower cost of capital than similar companies that do not pursue such initiatives; (c) There are substantial social benefits when managers of public companies make choices that account for the impact of their decisions on customers, employees, and community members beyond the effects on shareholders 

It sometimes surprises those who do not follow fiscal policy closely just how much of the process is often based on a series of polite fictions that those involved sometimes pretend to believe. The best example comes from the United Kingdom and concerns Fuel Duty, the duty charged on motor vehicle fuels.  In theory, and […] 

This US survey examines (a) All else equal, making permanent the 2017 tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of 2025 would substantially increase federal deficits and the federal debt over the coming decade; (b) All else equal, making permanent the 2017 tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of 2025 would measurably increase the rate of US economic growth over the coming decade, (c) In the US, given Congressional budget scoring rules, temporary tax cuts generate sufficient pressure for extension as to be effectively permanent 

The life cycle of the archetypal successful American firm was once straight forward. The initial entrepreneur would at first fund their start-up idea utilizing cash from the so-called three Fs of family, friends, and fools. If their business proved to be a hit it would expand using a mixture of debt and injections of equity […] 

This Finance survey examines (a) The lower willingness of private firms to go public, combined with the increased number of publicly traded firms being taken private over the last 25 years, is measurably net negative for economic growth; (b) All else equal, reducing regulatory barriers (including reporting requirements such as Sarbanes Oxley 404) to public listing would substantially increase the share of publicly traded firms in the economy; (c) The lack of transparency about unlisted private firms' financial performance substantially hinders the efficiency of the allocation of capital 

This US survey examines (a) The lower willingness of private firms to go public, combined with the increased number of publicly traded firms being taken private over the last 25 years, is measurably net negative for economic growth; (b) All else equal, reducing regulatory barriers (including reporting requirements such as Sarbanes Oxley 404) to public listing would substantially increase the share of publicly traded firms in the economy; (c) The lack of transparency about unlisted private firms' financial performance substantially hinders the efficiency of the allocation of capital