Luke Johnson compares traditional financial language – like profit motive and competition – and how their definitions are transforming today. Anger over social and economic inequality across the globe is driving people to disapprove of risk-takers and perceive investment banks as demonic organizations. Not without some reason, but Johnson draws attention to a question sweeping […]

I have taken up space in the electronic ether twice before on the general subject of Libya: once on March 22, just days after President Obama ordered a cruise missile attack on Tripoli, and again on August 16, when I raised the prospect of revenge killings on a large scale and what that might portend […]

The evidence is becoming clearer every day: the legal profession has some big changes coming its way. An op-ed in the New York Times asks whether law schools and bar exams are necessary at all: What if the barriers to entry were simply done away with?Legal costs would be reduced because non-lawyers, who have not […]

Don’t expect much in the way of posts for the next 48 hours; I’m leaving Shanghai early tomorrow morning and heading back for the US.  After visiting Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenyan, Anshan and Shanghai, lecturing in universities and meeting with diplomats, experts and journalists, I’m still trying to process it all.The Chinese-US relationship looks to […]

The American corporate establishment is reeling today at the news that the government is bringing criminal charges against Rajat K. Gupta, for many years the head of the most trusted name in corporate consulting.  According to the government, Gupta passed insider secrets to the systematically dishonest Raj Rajaratnam, the disgraced and convicted former head of […]

India has plenty of aspiring entrepreneurs but too many hurdles and roadblocks to starting small businesses. Old firms crowd out new ventures while financial regulators and lack of start-up capital make launching a new company a serious challenge. Over the past few years, few graduates of India’s top business schools are going into business for […]

The cross has been the foremost symbol of Christianity for so long that we easily forget that it was an instrument of execution. Subjects of the Roman Empire at the time could hardly forget this, and the spectacle of a religion using this symbol must have been shocking indeed, if not downright obscene. To achieve […]

The man who brought us the iPod has just unveiled his latest creation: the Nest, a self-programming thermostat which adapts itself to your habits. In addition to looking nice, the self-programming feature allows people to save significantly on utilities by adapting to daily patterns and turning down energy usage while the house is empty.This is […]

Cristina Fernandez won an overwhelming majority in Argentina’s elections over the weekend ushering in what she hopes will be her second four-year term. She has presided over a booming economy, but one that is built on shaky foundations. As the Economist reports: Orthodox economists have long warned that Argentina’s economy was overheating. She [Fernandez] has […]

The symbolism of the OWS demonstrator’s decision to hold their protests on Wall Street is abundantly clear: as the center of the nation’s financial system and workplace of some of America’s wealthiest, it is an obvious target for those who believe that America is run by greedy and rapacious businessmen with no regard for ordinary […]