economy
Budget 2010 @ The Disraeli Room
The ideas behind the announcements
On Wednesday March 24th, The Disraeli Room will run a series of comment pieces on the issues that arise from what promises to be one of the most important budgets in recent times.
Beyond Paper: Money 3.0
The Future of Money, Part Two: with the budget exactly a week away, Guest Contributor Chris Cook reports on radical innovations in digital cash
"...In Colombia, a new service provider's business model is simply to bring a bank together with a Telco and the tens of thousands of local 'Mom and Pop' shops which underpin Colombia's economy. Perhaps the best known example is Safaricom's MPESA payment system in Kenya, which had 15 million subscribers by the end of 2009, and is now branching out into areas such as crop insurance..."
Doing The Right Thing: A Video
Corporate Philosopher and ResPublica fellow, Roger Steare, in a short video, presents ideas for a values-driven economy
"...Roger is lead author of a major ResPublica project entitled 'A Force for The Greater Good,' which examines the role of ethics in business and economics more widely..."
Adult Economics
Chief Executive of the Urban Forum, Toby Blume, explains the logic of intervention in a market where irrationality is sometimes rational
"...Although it is seen as acceptable to lose money in a declining market, failing to match profits in the midst of a bubble is regarded by financial institutions (and their investors) as a cardinal sin. So instead institutions blithely follow the herd in offering products they know to be of dubious quality. It may be rational for an individual institution to follow this path in order to retain their investors, but the overall effect is anything but rational. The only way to sort out these perverse incentives is through positive, measured government intervention..."
