Could e-pipes be the next e-cigarette?

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic Last night I attended a small theatre production in Chiswick based on the life of Marie Curie. I won't bore you with the details, but Curie’s first husband Pierre was a played by a typically refined character  who sported a mustard yellow jacket, waistcoat and chinos in true Ted Baker fashion. In fact, his bearded face and flat cap would look downright ordinary in certain London boroughs, I remember thinking, if not for...

The risks of following the crowd

By David Willbe, Director in the Technology team at law firm DWF  Equity crowdfunding is experiencing a boom in publicity and popularity, but investors and startups alike must be aware of the risks when equity is involved. Prominent advertising by the likes of CrowdCube in recent months is a clear sign that crowdfunding has moved beyond being an advance payment for consumer products and become a mainstream investment model. But for all the hype, crowdfunding is not new. As long...

Should the UK stay in the EU or leave?

By Professor Christopher H. Bovis, Professor of International and European Business Law, University of Hull Inevitably, the question of UK membership of the European Union will be centred on two issues: The need for reform of EU institutions and the way the EU is governed The ability of the UK to influence EU decisions Reform is badly needed The European Union is malfunctioning. It has lost the zest of the “common market”,becoming instead a self-fulfilling prophesy of political union with disproportionally...

Show me the real money: Three monetary myths that need busting

By Brett Scott  Money pervades our everyday economic interactions. But, despite its importance, it is also pervasively misunderstood. Here are three common monetary myths – frequently perpetuated by economists – that need challenging. Myth 1: Money emerges from barter Economists often tell a tale about how old communities first used barter to exchange goods and services. Bartering throws up tricky situations. Take as an example a farmer trying to exchange a cow for bread from a baker, a clumsy and...

The Nightmare Economics of Ayn Rand

By Darragh Roche The term 'job creator' has crept into the political lexicon on both sides of the Atlantic. It sounds harmless, but don't be fooled - it is the quiet vanguard of a political and economic nightmare. Calling Ayn Rand a novelist is generous, calling her a philosopher borders on the ludicrous. But her corpus of regressive ideas has ignited the hard right in the United States. The coming Republican presidential primaries will give deficit hawks and would-be economic...

Buddhist Economics

By Dr Nigel Mellor Buddhist economics will be forever associated with the work of Ernst Friedrich (Fritz) Schumacher. He brought us the powerful ideas of ‘intermediate technology’ and ‘small is beautiful’. In promoting ‘limits to growth’ and ‘sustainable development’, he was far ahead of his time. Schumacher wanted to restore the dignity of work, within economies built around a ‘middle way’, with ‘appropriate scale’ production. These concepts helped build his enlightened Buddhist economics which is still very relevant today (the...

The Economic Outlook for 2015

The annual economic outlook for 2015 has been released by Invesco, revealing that faster growth of the quantity of money is desperately needed to avoid deflation. Despite a more positive economic outlook in 2014 we’re still hearing warning signs about the state of the global economy from all directions. Figures from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, have shown that the Eurozone experienced deflation of 0.2 per cent in December compared to the same month last year and...

Is your job at risk of computerisation? How to avoid bad surprise

By Valentina Magri    "Computers double their speed and memory capacity every 18 months. The risk is that computers develop intelligence and take over. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded”. Stephen Hawking's prediction of the future of the human race has rattled a few people. The physicist, who has motor neurone disease and uses a system designed by Intel to speak, essentially grounded sci-fi prophecies of robots out-thinking humans that have been...

Culture of British Retail Banking Report

A new report has revealed a cultural change in banks may take a generation, with the cost of poor culture far exceeding previous estimates. British retail banks and building societies have paid out at least £38.5 billion in fines and redress for customers over the last 15 years, with at least £27 billion of that due to the mis-selling of PPI. Poor culture also resulted in poor customer service, with banks have receiving 20.8 million complaints between 2008 and the first half of 2014, and 25 million between 2006 and...

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