Earlier in May FT Alphaville attended Ouisharefest in Paris, a conference dedicated to exploring and discussing the growth of the collaborative economy.
The timing of the event coincided with the ECB cutting its benchmark refinancing rate to an all-time low of 0.50 per cent to counter economic weakness which had in the central bank’s opinion spread to the eurozone’s “core economies”. Read more
The preliminary UK GDP estimate for the fourth quarter is out and it looks like there’s been a return to err.. contraction.
Via the ONS:
GDP was estimated to have decreased by 0.3% in Q4 2012 compared with Q3 2012. Output of the production industries was estimated to have decreased by 1.8% in Q4 2012 compared with Q3 2012, following an increase of 0.7% between Q2 2012 and Q3 2012.
Something very significant may be happening to labour and the capital reallocation process.
And arguably it’s down to technology and crowd-sourcing.
But before you shout: “this is what Marx always said, Ricardo and the Luddites were well ahead of you on that one”, we would propose what we’re talking about is a complementary trend not one that necessarily validates or duplicates what the above have said perfectly. Read more
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2Secret liquidity and Scottish independence
3Spain's awful unemployment
4Pump up, debase
5S&P 2,100, by Goldman Sachs
Show more6Buyback to enrich
7Collateral crunch-counting gets sophisticated
8Everlasting credit, the long view
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