Last week, Ben Bernanke suggested that the US base interest rate will stay close to zero for an "extended period". It's been there since December 2008. 30 Apr 2011 So let me get this straight. The Standard and Poor's rating agency last week took the historic step of putting the US government's AAA credit rating on "negative watch". 23 Apr 2011 The West’s political and financial elite is still a very long way from grasping the extent to which the global centre of economic gravity is now shifting – and the implications in terms of relative and absolute living standards. 16 Apr 2011 The "Independent Commission on Banking" has been charged with recommending reforms to our banking sector that protect the UK's "financial stability". This is vital. 09 Apr 2011 Guess what! America is on the mend. That’s right, the world’s biggest economy is now forging ahead, escaping its sub-prime malaise. Or maybe not. 02 Apr 2011 Readers should be in no doubt that today's events will affect Britain's future path more than any episode since the Second World War. 26 Mar 2011 How should an economist react to a catastrophe such as Japan? Even thinking about the financial and commercial impact of the country's most serious earthquake since seismological records began can appear callous – given the scale of the human suffering. 19 Mar 2011 The economic newsflow was thick and fast last week. Ongoing commodity price jitters combined with renewed fears of another eurozone default – this time in Spain, the currency union's fourth biggest economy. 12 Mar 2011 Everyone knows that economics is often labeled the “dismal science”. But few could tell you that this pejorative description dates back to an insult originally thrown at the classical economist, Thomas Malthus. 05 Mar 2011 Ever since the early 1970s, every single time oil prices have spiked sharply (rising by 80pc or more), regular as clockwork the US has entered recession. 26 Feb 2011 The Middle East could be heading for a game-changing implosion. US bond yields are surging and Western central banks, despite growing tension within their ranks, remain in ostrich mode. 19 Feb 2011 'The simplest concept cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him,” wrote Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian polymath, in 1893. 12 Feb 2011 "Don't panic – this time it's different." That's the line taken by most Western governments in the face of food prices spiralling upwards and oil jumping above $100 a barrel. 05 Feb 2011 Back in 2009, the Western world's top bankers were so reviled in the aftermath of the sub-prime crisis that they didn't dare attend the annual Davos summit. 29 Jan 2011 High inflation and a falling make it tougher for Britain to sell gilts, which we're about to do in near-record quantities. 22 Jan 2011 First, a disclaimer. I have a "day-job". As the strap at the bottom of this column states every week, I'm chief economist at a company called Prosperity Capital Management. 15 Jan 2011 Liam Halligan firmly believes QE is the wrong response to the financial crisis, so when respected economist Tim Congdon called him a "monetary conservative of the backwoods persuasion" for his vews he felt compelled to respond. 02 Jan 2011 As 2010 draws to a close, it's becoming ever clearer that the UK's economic prognosis is not good. 26 Dec 2010 'The dragon and the elephant should tango!" So said Wen Jiabao last week during a rare visit to India. The Chinese premier employed some uncharacteristically colourful language to convey an unusual idea – that of Sino-Indian co-operation. 18 Dec 2010 US Treasuries last week suffered their biggest two-day sell-off since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The borrowing costs of the government of the world’s largest economy have now risen by a quarter over the past four weeks. 11 Dec 2010 News of which countries will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals was met with shock, incredulity even. There was actually a sense of outrage at the decisions reached last Wednesday by the 22-member Executive Committee of Fifa, football's world governing body. 04 Dec 2010 The prospect of "haircuts" for all those who leant money to Irish banks has sent banking stocks spiralling downward across the eurozone's periphery. 27 Nov 2010 Last Wednesday was a hinge point in history. The United States decided to drop all pretence of being interested in leading – or even being part of – a coordinated global policy response to the most serious economic crisis in more than 70 years. 06 Nov 2010 Mervyn King, lest we forget, is Governor of the Bank of England. The "Old Lady of Threadneedle Street", as the Bank is known, is about to take back from the Financial Services Authority responsibility for ensuring the stability of UK banks. 30 Oct 2010Liam Halligan
Liam Halligan's column tackles head on the key issues facing the
British and global economy.
LATEST FROM LIAM HALLIGAN
America's reckless money-printing could put the world back into crisis
America appears to be sleepwalking towards disaster – does no one care?
The BRIC countries’ Hainan summit could make the G20 redundant
Why fences, walls and other myths cannot save us from bankers' risks
The US recovery is little more than an economic 'sugar-rush'
Britain's leaders should come clean over depth of fiscal crisis
Markets second guessing how the aftershock from Japan will play out
History's lesson is that investment and retail banking must be separate
Gloomy Malthus provides food for thought as world's appetite builds
History tells us that a surge in fuel costs makes a US recession likely
China's influence is on the rise – the West must stop this self-delusion
UK rate rise is common sense – whatever the inflation-deniers say
Does a surge in food and oil prices mean that it's now time to panic?
Bankers regain power as summit ends with a fudge
Our currency has gone West and stagflation will soon be upon us
BP's Russian deal makes good sense and the West should be cheering
Why Congdon is on losing side of monetary easing argument
The UK inflation genie is out of the bottle
China and India's latest love-in raises serious issues for the West
Market alarm as US fails to control biggest debt in history
The West has no God-given right to be rich – or to host the World Cup
Haircuts for all as vexed Germany takes a firm grip on the clippers
The rest of the world goes West when America prints more money
Mervyn King makes a stand for reform as banks seem intent on forgetting
Sunday, 1 May 2011
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