Opinion polls in advance of a plebiscite are highly scientific yet have proven themselves to be way off the mark compared to the actual result. Despite the advances in sampling procedures avoiding bias, opinion polls seem to be getting worse, rather than better, at predicting outcomes. Some analysts think that the divergence between pre-poll opinion […]

“Possession is 90% of the Law” is the famous, unattributed saying in English Common law. In the context of proving ownership of an asset, being in possession of that asset makes a pretty strong presumption that you own it. The problem with assets that are electronically generated, registered and traded is that they do not […]

At the height of its influence in the late 60’s and early 70’s, Monetarism held that money expansion could have powerful short term effects on GDP and Employment. This appealed to policy makers since it offered a cheap way to manage the macro-economy and elevated Milton Friedman to rockstar status. Quite honestly, Friedman would have […]

I have banged on many times about the drastic collapse in the velocity of circulation of money. This is a fancy way of saying that banks and individuals don’t want to hold the money that the Central Banks have been throwing at them for a decade. Despite the attempts of the Central Banks to ‘reignite […]

If you are like me, you tried to steer clear of Operations Research at university for as long as you could. OR, for those of you who either don’t know or delightedly forgot, is the practical application of optimisation methods to real world problems. Dull but really important if that’s your bag… Netflix has emerged […]