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The Fabric, and the Notion, of EU Solidarity is Being Ripped Apart
Italians are suffering – but they are also angry and defiant. EU flags are being burned. On social media, Italy’s citizens are telling each other, and the world, that “we will save ourselves”. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is pleading for
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Clash over Eurobonds Widens Rift in Eurozone
Sixteen hours into their videoconference, sleep deprived Eurozone finance ministers early this morning agreed to disagree and try again for consensus later today. Eurogroup Chairman Mario Centeno suspended the discussion and said a deal was close, but still out of
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Deflation, Inflation, and the Disappearance of Deficit Phobia
Inflation is, essentially, the expression of excess demand or, on its flip side, a sign of depressed supply. The trillions of freshly ‘minted’ dollars and euros that seek to maintain an equilibrium of sorts between supply and demand whilst the
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Smoke and Mirrors Line the Fringes of the Pandemic
Luigi di Maio owes his rapid ascendancy in Italian politics to an almost virulent display of Euroscepticism. It propelled the former drinks vendor at the Naples San Paolo football stadium to a top spot in his country’s notoriously vicious political
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Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
Scale, speed, and simplicity. In order to have a discernible effect, measures taken to alleviate the impact of the corona pandemic on people, businesses, and institutions must include these three key elements. Earlier this week, the US navy became the
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The Great Equaliser That Was Not
In a macabre spin on the corona pandemic, some sociologists and economists tentatively hail the deadly virus as the great equaliser they had been waiting for: the great event that forces the global community to re-examine its destructive ways. History
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Business in Times of Corona: The Lure of Rustbelts When Lean Is No Longer Mean
During their short lifetime, shrimp barely migrate. Aided by a snap of their tail and the tidal currents, the crustaceans may cover a distance of perhaps a few thousand meters in a day. However, once caught, shrimp become a migrating
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Business in Times of Corona: The Welfare State May Yet Prove Its Worth
The currently much deplored absence of a social security safety net is a feature – and not necessarily a bug – of the essentially wage-driven growth model that underpins the US economy. However, under the present exceptional circumstances the script
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Blessings, Curses, Co-operation and Collaboration – the Virus is Forcing Knowledge upon us
No one was expecting this. No one knows what will happen next. Does that make this a time to hunker down and wait, to stand on something and watch, or to gamely strive for business-as-usual-as-possible? In that most nebulous and
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Business in Times of Corona: A Gathering Storm Darkens the Prospects of Africa
Even before the corona virus made its presence known, market analysts had no need for prescient powers to predict trouble ahead for South Africa. Already in February, consumer and business confidence had approached a 30-year low as the country’s anaemic
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