economy

  There’s been an ongoing debate in Argentina about the federal budget results under the Milei administration. I want to be very clear: the numbers show significant improvement, and Milei’s administration has been successful in putting the “deficit issue” on center stage. Yet, there are also good reasons why some Argentine economists point to potential problems and […]

  Investment “dark pools” have been at the center of a lengthy controversy, attracting much criticism and numerous calls for regulatory clampdowns. These private trading venues where large institutional investors execute orders outside public exchanges, more often than not with minimal oversight and without public attention, have frequently been described as opaque, destabilizing and unfair. […]

  Taxes and tariffs are—unsurprisingly—a major topic for economists. On one hand, they generate huge inefficiencies, deadweight losses, and perverse incentives; on the other hand, they reveal the fascinating creativity with which entrepreneurs find ways to avoid these costs. Sometimes in a quite amusing way. Let’s look at a few examples from not-too-distant history. Wall […]

  Prison cells are a fascinating economic laboratory, where for over a century thriving markets in goods, services, labor—and even money—have existed. Nowhere else do you find so many people craving entertainment and consumer goods, alongside so many innovative individuals willing to bend the rules to supply them. Everyday prison life also nicely illustrates how […]

  The Netherlands has long been an innovative, competitive and prosperous mid-sized European democracy. It is currently the fifth-largest economy in the European Union and the 18th-largest in the world. The Dutch consider themselves “big among the small,” holding disproportionate influence within organizations like the EU and NATO. Yet political deadlock now grips the nation; […]