Lorca on Headwinds and Tail Risks: It’s Five O’clock at the Crossroads of Liquidity and Volatility
Could the markets suddenly unravel? Of course they could. The fiat monetary system is like a mirage, it can tumble because of underestimated circumstances. Imagine for example Greece abruptly leaving the Eurozone, defaulting on its EFSF loans of €240 billion, its...Drying Up The Collateral Base
Since 1873 the world has suffered two periods of great deflationary pressures: the first one from 1873-1893, and the second during the Great Depression in the 1930s. We may be facing a third one (at least according to several analysts), which has been forcing the...Portugal’s Successful Turnaround? A Fairy Tale
Even a brief glance at the facts suffices. Portugal is no less bankrupt than Greece. The country’s government debt, at 124% of GDP, might be lower than in Greece. However, government debt is just one – even though important – part of the full debt picture. On an...“Quanto Sia Vana Ogni, Quanto Fallace Ciaschedum Disegno”: The Economics of Turmoil, and the Financing of Dysfunctionalities in the Midst of Volatile Markets
Lorenzo the Magnificent (the scion of the Medici banking family), whose lending institution dominated not only Florence but much of Europe, was also a poet influenced by Horace and Catullus. The Latin phrase above reflects the first two lines of one of his sonnets....Overfed but Still Malnourished: The Aegean Sea Meets Singapore
About a year ago in a meeting we had in Warsaw, Poland I contrasted Jamaica and Singapore. The contrast was based on a simple observation/fact, which stated that those two countries started at almost identical positions in the early 1960s, but Singapore excelled since...Sign Up for Our Publications
