Discussion sympa avec Matthieu de Generation Do It Yourself sur COVID, l’economie, les startups Pour ce 11ème épisode … Continue reading “COVID-19 – 11 Fabrice Grinda – Survivre : le seul KPI du moment”

In February I suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 disease it causes may be the black … Continue reading “The global economy and its impact on startups in the time of COVID-19”

If there is one thing that businesses and individuals hate even more than bad news, it’s uncertainty. Even … Continue reading “COVID-19 may be the black swan that pushes the global economy into recession”

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hosting a salon dinner with members of French Founders prior … Continue reading “Interview in Les Echos (in French): Tech will make the World a Better Place”

In these fraught political times, it’s good to take a step back from the day to day minutia. … Continue reading “We are lucky to be alive right now!”

Technological progress continues unabated. The astonishing rate of growth has fueled heated debates about implications on the future … Continue reading “Technology and the Future of Work”

by Fabrice Grinda and Mike Lloyd Many people have been amazed at the support that Donald Trump has … Continue reading “Donald Trump: The Startup Disrupting the GOP Establishment”

Hang around venture capitalists in Silicon Valley and a clear sense of fear pervades the air. The main … Continue reading “Macro perspective: The startup party is far from over!”

Global interest rates are now at historical lows. Conversely we are seeing record prices for asset prices be … Continue reading “Asset prices are more sensitive to very low interest rates than most suspect”

I have had the pleasure of meeting professor Tyler Cowen a few times and always left my meetings … Continue reading “How Technology Could Help Fight Income Inequality”

Loic Lemeur asked Jeff Clavier and me to react to Arnaud Montebourg’s presentation at LeWeb and ask him … Continue reading “LeWeb 2013 Interview of Arnaud Montebourg”

Over the course of the last few years I resolved the cognitive dissonance between my short term pessimism … Continue reading “No Limits to Growth”

Dominic Barton, the managing director of McKinsey, recently gave an insightful speech at Stanford Business School. I encourage … Continue reading “Great speech on the five trends reshaping the global economy”

Over the past few years the economist in me has been profoundly pessimistic about the short and medium … Continue reading “The Economy: An Optimistic Thought Experiment”

A few months ago, I started writing an analysis of our global economic situation that I wanted to … Continue reading “Is the Euro zone crisis by design?”

I just came across this very well thought through article on everything that could go wrong for the … Continue reading “Must read article on America’s 21st century collapse!”

My good friend Auren Hoffman posited that existing nation states would benefit from a little bit of creative … Continue reading “The Ultimate Startup: Creating a New Country”

Great interview of Nouriel Roubini and Ian Bremmer in Foreign Policy. Read it at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/05/just_how_bad_is_bad

Over the last two weeks I had the pleasure of attending the eG8 Summit in Paris at the … Continue reading “Cameron Rules, Sarkozy Sucks!”

I recently wrote how the world is less globalized than we suspect it is and how we now … Continue reading “Why India is behind China!”

  As I was reading The Upside of Irrationality, Dan Ariely’s sequel to the brilliant Predictably Irrational, I … Continue reading “How to minimize human misery in recessions or the macroeconomic implications to hedonic adaptation”

I was shocked that the statistics I came across in a recent article in The Economist which presented … Continue reading “Globalization is more fragile and less entrenched than you think!”

I posted a while back a written transcript of the speech. Stephen Meade recorded the speech and was … Continue reading “Summit Series Speech: The Pessimistic Optimist”

I wanted to share with you something that has been on my mind lately as I have been … Continue reading “Summit Series Speech: The Pessimistic Optimist”

I argued in a prior post that the best way to deal with a deflating bubble was not … Continue reading “Mortgage modifications have done more harm than good”

Over the past few years I have often felt like Cassandra with my dire and pessimistic economic predictions. … Continue reading “Cognitive dissonance be damned: I am a pessimistic optimist!”

… but probably not the beginning of the end! It is interesting to see the speed at which … Continue reading “The Economy: The End of the Beginning…”

I had the pleasure of studying under Uwe Reinhardt at Princeton. He was by far the best teacher. … Continue reading “Uwe Reinhardt is brilliant!”

I had the pleasure of being invited to a dinner organized by the Princeton University Center for Economic … Continue reading “CEPS: George Soros on the crash of 2008”

The story of the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs should be a cautionary tale to present-day policymakers. The tariffs did not … Continue reading “Global industrial bail-outs: the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs of 2009?”

As a society and as individuals we are loth to take responsibility for our actions. We much prefer … Continue reading “Whodunit?”

During the past few years, I often felt I was the sole economic pessimist. I urged my friends … Continue reading “The Economy: The case for (relative) optimism”

I am not usually a fan of his style, but in this case, his outburst was justified and … Continue reading “Jim Cramer's August 2007 outburst is a must watch!”

By Steven E Worst financial crisis since the Great Depression? Yes—but don’t be cowed by talk of calamity. … Continue reading “All Hail the Fed: why to be skeptical about the priciest bailout ever”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are privately owned and run government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Fannie Mae was founded … Continue reading “Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac: How we got here and what to do next”

In the past few years, I have been extremely pessimistic about the US economy. I explained that most … Continue reading “The US Economy: How bad will it get?”

By Stacie Rabinowitz I’ve been a bit perturbed lately reading about some of the responses to the global … Continue reading “The Food Crisis: A Radical Rethink”

The first time I got an insight into Sarkozy’s character was reading The Economist review of his literary … Continue reading “Sarkozy: The First Year”

“Is China democratizing? The country’s leaders do not think of democracy as people in the West generally do, … Continue reading “The Prospects for Democracy in China”

On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of attending a seminar sponsored by McKinsey on China’s Business and … Continue reading “China’s Business and Policy Evolution”

I am an economist by formation and at heart if not by trade and I am appalled by … Continue reading “Policy recommendation for the candidates”

The road to hell is paved with good intentions! In public policy above all else, I have often … Continue reading “The power of unintended consequences”

Friends of rogue trader Jerome Kerviel last night blamed his $7 billion losses on unbearable levels of stress … Continue reading “Rogue French trader Jerome Kerviel was forced to work 30 hours a week!”

I had the pleasure of attending yet another one of Mark Gerson’s phenomenal Shabbos dinners two weeks ago … Continue reading “An optimist’s perspective: the party system in the US works!”

A recent article in the Financial Times showed that French and German schoolbooks demonize enterprise. As the article … Continue reading “Shocking research on continental European economics teaching”

As I wrote in a recent article (Capitalism and Democracy), despite decreases in global inequality because of economic … Continue reading “The End of Inequality”

I had the pleasure of listening to my good friend Einat Wilf (www.wilf.org) speak on the future of … Continue reading “Einat Wilf, Danny Gillerman and Israel”

I recently came across an article entitled “How Capitalism is Killing Democracy” by Robert Reich. The article is … Continue reading “Capitalism and Democracy”

By answering the following 11 questions you see where you stand relative to the candidates: http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460 The results … Continue reading “2008: Where do you stand relative to the candidates?”

Last February I blogged about how excess petrodollar liquidity was creating bubbles all around the world and how … Continue reading “A Different Perspective on the Global Economy”

It occurred to me a year ago that Bloomberg would make a great president. He has been a … Continue reading “Bloomberg for President”

Tony Blair is probably the most gifted politician of his generation. He is smart, open minded and a … Continue reading “Read Tony Blair’s essay in The Economist”

By most measures these are the best of times. We live longer, healthier lives than ever before. Our … Continue reading “Fear and uncertainty in the time of prosperity”

I just came across a book written about a 45 year old Frenchman. He owns a large studio … Continue reading “Only in France!”

Despite the fact that quality of life is actually very good in France, there is clearly a French … Continue reading “The French Presidential Election”

Regardless of where you stand on immigration, demographic shifts in Mexico will render the issue meaningless in the … Continue reading “The Immigration Non-Issue”

Before I begin, let’s start with a few basic macro-economic foundations. A country can either control its interest … Continue reading “What’s going on in China: An introduction to macro-economics”

If you were an economist arriving from Mars and looked at capital flows around the world, you would … Continue reading “Macro Perspectives on Global Liquidity: How Chinese Farmers and Oil Sheiks are Subsidizing American Consumption and its Implications”

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2007/gb20070214_899890.htm?link_position=link1 A few days after I recommended we should create a carbon emissions market, China creates a carbon-credit … Continue reading “China sets up a carbon-credit exchange”

Global warming seems to be on the mind of many these days. There is no denying that the … Continue reading “A different perspective on global warming”

Turn the pages of any paper covering foreign policy and it is easy to become depressed about the … Continue reading “The Geo-Political Landscape: The Perspective of an Optimist”

I just arrived in Paris from Buenos Aires for LeWeb3 conference organized by Loic Lemeur. I was horrified … Continue reading “France and the mirage of progess”

Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” “Thus, an … Continue reading “Parkinson’s law is so true!”

According to an OECD report bad governance is the number 1 cause of poverty around the world – … Continue reading “Bad government policy, poverty and Kirchner’s folly!”

Watch it fully! (Don’t get thrown off by the few seconds of George Bush at the beginning). Ben … Continue reading “Funniest Ben Bernanke Fed watching video ever :)”

I have been appalled recently by the low quality of the debate on immigration from politicians throughout the … Continue reading “Immigration and the lump of labor fallacy”

There is something highly ironic about seeing hundreds of thousands of students in France demonstrate against the CPE … Continue reading “France or the Imaginary World :)”