Publications

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: February 9, 2013 |

Temporary Upswings and Credit Markets: Looking at Asia

The markets are experiencing a temporary upswing due to the velocity of the buffer zones that central banks are creating. Those buffer zones are trying to create a unity of […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 31, 2013 |

Capital Markets and the Velocity of Buffer Zones: Recent Economic Developments Using QE Lenses

In the summer of 2011 we published some commentaries about the development of financial black holes. The argument of this commentary goes as follows: Central banks and governments around the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 26, 2013 |

“Collapse, Avoid a Relapse, Don’t Relax”: Prospects, Downside Risks, Central Banks, and Existential Threats

The words quoted in the title above, were pronounced by Christine Lagarde (the head of the IMF) at the Davos annual economic conference. She was referring to the EU experience […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 15, 2013 |

The Prospects for Real Estate: Part II of Assessing the Prospects for 2013

In this week’s commentary we offer our assessment of a positive outlook for the real estate sector in 2013. We believe that real estate will outperform most – if not […]

By: Chairman Paul Volcker | On: January 3, 2013 |

The Triumph of Central Banking?

It is an honor to host Chairman Paul Volcker’s speech on Central Banking, as this week’s commentary. The speech was given in 1990 during the Per Jacobsson Foundation Lectures series. […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 27, 2012 |

Uber Alles, the Intersection of Basle and Chicago: A Conversation with Moses, Solon, William Gladstone and William Jennings Bryan

I boarded the non-stop flight from Basle, Switzerland to Chicago. It was destined to be an exciting flight due to the persons sitting around me and the topics of their […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 21, 2012 |

Majoring in the Minors: Economic Realities and Phantom Diversions

In this commentary, we will discuss examples of how misguided policies and debates focus the public’s attention to minor issues, with the result being that the causes are not addressed, […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 15, 2012 |

Smoking Mirrors and Angelic Demons: Assessing the Prospects of 2013, Part I

The renewal of the swap lines among the major central banks was a footnote for the financial markets and for the financial publications in the last couple of days. However, […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 8, 2012 |

Could we Start Experiencing a Normalization of Dislocation? An Assessment of Risks

In the last few days, some reports have been circulated – by prominent Wall Street banks –which tell us that things will return to normal in 2013. With all due […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: November 30, 2012 |

A Falsis Principiis Proficisci: Do we Plan for the Future by Setting Forth the Wrong Principles?

We have all faced situations where everything is about politics. Unfortunately, it seems that we have not learned yet that while everything is politics, politics is not everything. The EU […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: November 12, 2012 |

The Chastising of the Markets: The Slippery Slope of Declining Confidence

About ten days ago Germany reported its latest deterioration in business climate. German companies expressed significant dissatisfaction with current business conditions. Most probably they have start comprehending that the disintegration […]