News and thoughts

Risk vs uncertainty. The battle was at the core of NYU professor and renowned anthropologist Arjun Appadurai’s keynote speech at the Human Economy conference. Finance, he argued, was establishing itself as a discipline separate from economics largely due to shedding off the noti...more

Do many units of power, like elites, powerful individuals, but also states, punch above their weight? This was a question raised at a seminar I gave about ‘defensive power’ last week at the University of Cape Town. Elites, for example, often loudly object changes that may jeopar...more

Op-ed I felt the urge to write. Dutch newspapers decided not to publish it, however. Here is a copy: Wachtgeld, bonussen, exorbitante salarissen, de discussie daarover valt vaak terug op de individuele kwalite...more

I am a bit puzzled about the lack of reorganisation and regulation of the financial sector. Or better said, I am a bit puzzled why a seemingly vital element shaping the lack of progress receives so little media coverage. Or is it just my imagination and not really a vital elemen...more

With the euro-rollercoaster going for another ride, Spain’s banking sector on the verge of collapse and the solvency of states decreasing by the day, I wonder whether the lack of foresighted regulation of the banking conglomerates is coming back as a boomerang. Not, in this case...more

Like an invisible cloud waiting to develop in a storm, the financial sector’s unsolved problems have been lingering above us since the economy fell to pieces after the 2007/2008 financial crisis. Some saw the cloud developing behind the horizon, and pushed for substantially refo...more

Once more, a wealthy-turned-do-gooder: David Blood, in a previous life CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is now preaching for a sustainable capitalism. Together with Al Gore he initiated Generation Investment Management, offering an alternative to the financial markets’ ten...more

The European project in a severe crisis, a dark cloud over the world economy, and yet banks keep on thinking about their own interests mainly. One could say, ‘hey, banks are just in it for their own stake, for making money’. But even then, this puzzles me. Financiers seem intell...more