Sudip Bandyopadhyay’s Blog

Misaligned exchange rates are more often than not a prelude to trade friction. Yet so far, in spite of sporadic outbreaks of warlike political rhetoric between the US and China, currency misalignments between the world’s surplus savings countries and the world’s borrowers and spenders have not ended in disaster. Buy America provisions and bail-outs for [...]

“History demonstrates conclusively that a modern economy cannot grow if its financial system is not operating effectively.” So said Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, last  week in London.  It sounds obvious, but it is also fundamental - and for three reasons. First, banks allow people to pay each other easily - without them commerce would [...]

Nassim Taleb has benefited hugely from walking his talk. If talking about black swans has proven rewarding (in terms of global notoriety and royalties) since the publication of his memorable book, “Black Swan” walking it has recently delivered rich pickings in monetary terms. Perhaps most relevant to him, it has also finally vindicated a life [...]

It seems only yesterday that scarcity was the story. Energy and commodity prices were heading into the stratosphere. The oil was running out, food shortages loomed, Russia was resurgent and China was marching into Africa amid a scramble for dwindling resources.
Now? Prices everywhere are falling as recession bites. Investment banks have disappeared; and the global [...]