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Adam Smith: The Original Economic Thinker
The year 1776 marked the dawn of modern capitalism: nothing to do with a few rebellious colonies unleashing a revolutionary war against the crown of England. It was in 1776 – 239 years ago – that Adam Smith published The
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Book Review: Squeezing Cash Out of Milliseconds
Time is money. To high-frequency traders, it means big money. HFTs make cash by being milliseconds faster than the other guy – or system. These are not mom-and-pop investors: high-frequency traders employ ultra-fast Internet connections and powerful computers to catch
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Brazil & Argentina: Only One Getting Real
Brazil is just one step removed from facing its reality. With nearly all macroeconomic indicators pointing in the less desirable of directions, the country is facing a downgrade of its sovereign credit rating with S&P on July 28 changing its
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Energy Case Study: Peru
Peru is the third largest country in South America with a land area five times that of the UK. Peru has a long Pacific Ocean coastline buttressed by the high and rugged mountain ranges of the Andes which are flanked
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European Court of Justice: Looking for the Digital Utopia
In a textbook case of be-careful-what-you-wish-for, frustrated lobbyists plying their trade in Brussels on behalf of Google, Microsoft, and other Internet giants earlier this week suggested Europe could of course always build its own search engine since the US-based ones
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Ray-Ban: Wearable Icon
October 20 1944, on the Philippine island of Leyte, Gaetano Faillace, personal photographer to General Douglas MacArthur, waded ashore at Dagupan just ahead of the general’s entourage. The beach had not been entirely secured and there was still sniper and
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Sebastião Salgado: Capturing the Moment
Sebastião Salgado abandoned a promising career as an economist in his 30s to become a highly-regarded and iconic photojournalist. His extraordinary black and white images record the lives of people in harsh conditions, finding beauty and strength in the bleakest
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Nick Clegg: A Heart That Will Yet Be Sorely Missed
As David Cameron was celebrating his party’s astonishing victory at the polls on May 8, his former coalition partner Nick Clegg delivered a mournful resignation speech. Immediately after the election, Mr Clegg stepped down as leader of the Liberal Democrats.
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Book Review: Niall Ferguson’s Civilization – Six Ways the West Beat the Rest
In much the same way Marxists internationalists held on to the belief that the workers’ revolution would sweep the world before it, today’s neoconservatives are convinced theirs is the only way forward. In this, neocons are but the most recent
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Sophie in ‘t Veld: Calling the European Council to Order
Dutch MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld believes that the freedom of every person to hold their own thoughts and opinions is a cornerstone of any democratic society. Her vision for Europe is based on the values of the Age of
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