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It is hard to think of two businesses as different as TikTok and US Steel. The later is more than a century old (which I am given to believe counts as a longtime in the United States), employs more than 20,000 workers and is just about as ‘old economy’ as on one can imagine, producing […] 

This installment of the FTxBooth US Macroeconomists Survey discusses how long the current rates are likely to remain in place as well as possible labor market conditions moving through 2024. The summary results are below and you can read the Financial Times article here, subscription required. View the results of this survey >> For social […] 

A few weeks ago, my eldest child made the all too easy mistake of casually asking me “why doesn’t Britain use the Euro?” It would, as she noted, make holidaying in Spain much more straightforward. Twenty minutes later, and after an impromptu tutorial on monetary policy and the business cycle, she presumably regretted asking. Prompted […] 

This European survey examines (a) Europe’s economic growth performance over the last 25 years has been measurably better than it would have been in the absence of the single currency; (b) With euro area member states having given up their ability to carry out independent monetary policy, it is substantially more difficult for them to respond effectively to country-specific macroeconomic disturbances 

This US survey examines (a) Allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies will lead to a substantial reduction in the costs of prescription drugs for US retirees; (b) Allowing imports of medicines from Canada will lead to a substantial reduction in the costs of prescription drugs for US consumers without compromising safety 

Around 18 months ago, during the short-lived Prime Ministerial term of Liz Truss, your columnist had lunch with an American asset manager who happened to be in London. His visit was at least well timed for a period of extreme turbulence in the market for British government debt. Wearily he told me that he only […] 

The past year has been good for those who happen to hold US equities. The S&P 500 is up by almost 30% over the last twelve months and by around 7.5% so far this year. Which given that March only just started is a very strong return indeed. Investment commentary though, and the opinion pages […] 

This European survey examines (a) A legalized and carefully regulated market for cannabis would lead to measurably higher social welfare than a system of prohibition 

This Finance survey examines (a) With some measures of concentration by market capitalization within broad US stock market indices at an all-time high, investors seeking a well-diversified passive equity portfolio should consider alternatives to market-cap-weighted indices.