Comment, analysis and other offerings from Tuesday’s FT,
Gideon Rachman: How small nations were cut adrift
After the Great Recession, the economic and political tide has turned against small nations. It is the smalls that have fared worst — Iceland, Ireland, the three Baltic states, writes Rachman. Big is indeed beautiful again. But a world in which small nations can be pushed around more easily will be an uglier place.
Jean Pisani-Ferry and Adam Posen: Why the euro is not the next global currency
The explosion of debate on the demise of the dollar has been instructive, though vastly premature, write Pisani-Ferry, director of Bruegel, the Brussels think tank, and Posen, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. What is striking, however, is the euro’s absence from talk of alternatives as the global currency - highlighting how the eurozone’s internal failures put at risk future monetary stability for the world.
John Authers’ The Short View: A rally for all to enjoy
Everyone should enjoy the current rally - for now, writes John Authers. The raw numbers are good enough, with a rebound of more than 50 per cent in virtually all the world’s large stock markets since March. But at some point in the near future, this market will need a drastic correction. The money that has entered the market in the past few months has been smart so far - will it be smart enough to get out in time?
Lex on CIT
In an argument, shouting the loudest can be a crude but effective strategy, notes Lex. Corporate raider Carl Icahn certainly sounded off on Monday, accusing CIT’s board of “incompetent and unconscionable behaviour”. In spite of his intervention, however, the dynamics determining the fate of the troubled US finance group are largely unchanged.
Insight: Infrastructure will cut CDS vulnerability
Financial innovation can bring an essential contribution to growth and prosperity, writes Christian Noyer, governor of the Banque de France. But it can also create significant instability. To reap the benefits of innovation and reduce its risks, we need robust and resilient financial systems and infrastructures. At Pittsburgh, G20 leaders have also called for more extensive regulation.
Analysis: A tech tonic
With signs of an early upturn in the IT sector, optimists are hoping it will help revive the rest of the economy - but a resuscitated industry is likely to look unfamiliar, writes the FT’s Richard Waters.
FT People: Starting over in private equity
Private equity bosses don’t fade away, they just reinvent themselves, says Emiko Terazono. At least, that is what Jon Moulton and John Lovering , two of the UK private equity industry’s most gnarled veterans, are hoping as they seek to start afresh.
Editorial comment: Safe as (UK) houses
The Financial Services Authority, once the high priest of the City of London’s “light touch” regulatory cult, now favours using heavy weaponry against banks. The FSA’s new proposals for regulating the residential mortgage market are crude. But they should, nonetheless, be welcomed.
Letters to the Editor
- Without bailouts we might have seen Apocalypse
- The company I’d trust with my life
- Review tax policies driving corporate behaviour
