Maths and morals, economics and greed

This piece has been posted on the Res Publica think tank  Disraeli Room blog . I recently asked a prominent mathematician who once ran a h...

Hyperbolic (or Simple) Discounting

I was critical of Doyne Farmer in my previous post, and in response I got a message from someone I respect But I like Farmer's work... s...

Economics, Ecology and Ethics

I spent the first part of the week at the eco**2 meeting , sponsored by the British Ecological Society and the LSE's Systemic Risk Centr...

A short comment on money and independence

During the (now ironically labelled) 'Arab spring' I read Alistair Horne's A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 . Reading th...

Nectar for the gods: how money made Western culture different

I've never really thought that the fact Greek gods lived off nectar and ambrosia was particularly consequential, but having read Richa...

Academic metrics and market mechanisms: heaven or hell

This post is a draft of my contribution to the ' Independent review of the role of metrics in research assessment ' being undertaken...

Rethinking the finance curriculum

Emerging in the wake of the Rethinking Economics movement is Rethinking Finance , and it looks as if Rethinking Finance is going to place s...

Reciprocity and the difference between usury and interest

At the IASH meeting on the Human-Business interface I attended last week, Michael Northcott discussed the relationship between capitalism a...