austerity

Fears of Austerity rise again, as Stimulus proves ineffective

Austerity is in the news again, as the Greek/Eurozone debt negotiations continue.  So it seems interesting to see how financial market sentiment has been moving with regard to the issues of austerity and stimulus.  The above chart is therefore modeled on the familiar IeC Boom/Gloom Index It shows the ratio of sentiment for Austerity versus […]

Policymakers seek simple answers to complex issues

3 years ago, two Harvard professors published a book with the eye-catching title, “This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly”. Marketed as “the landmark work of financial crises”, it went straight into the best-seller lists and became…

Budgeting for Austerity – the Opportunities

The 2012-14 Budget period offers great opportunities, as well as great challenges.

Will companies continue to focus on short-term developments in financial markets? Michael Porter’s Shared Value concept instead offers us a powerful model for creat…

Europe’s austerity packages start to bite

Its the ‘big picture’ issues that we need to watch these days, no longer detailed forecasts of individual product growth rates. They are driving chemical product sales in every major region.

The chart above from the Financial Times highlights Europ…

The cost of Asian subsidies

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says Asian governments ‘are caught in the pincer grips of slowing growth and rising inflation’. Whilst the cost of subsidies is ballooning. India, for example, will spend $42.5bn in oil subsidies this year, ‘six times …

The cost of Asian subsidies Read More