Columns

Holding: Courts may save startups from redemptions

25 May 2017

Cashing out venture capitalists on demand can leave other investors in a lurch. A case involving onetime dot-com darling Oversee.net and Oak Hill suggests judges have growing concerns. It’s an overdue warning about how such conflicts can hurt fledgling firms and their owners.

Hadas: The next financial crisis could be in forex

24 May 2017

Foreigners are happy to hold U.S. dollars, but a swelling supply of currency brings risks of a disastrous loss of confidence. With overseas greenbacks at 11 pct of world GDP and global politics fractious, the dilemma identified by Robert Triffin in 1960 remains all too pertinent.

Cox: Time to contemplate Mike Pence-onomics

18 May 2017

There is a whiff of impeachment in the air in Washington. That may still be an unlikely outcome, but Donald Trump's flawed stewardship of the Oval Office should be inspiring risk managers to run their rules over the fiscal views of the vice president from central casting.

Hadas: Puerto Rico, Greece and bad-faith debt

17 May 2017

Both the U.S. territory and the euro zone laggard have fine beaches, irresponsible governments and a debt crisis. The most just and helpful response to such debacles is to force reckless lenders to write off loans. That’s a hard sell. Thankfully, few sovereigns are so careless.

Cox: Nixon nostalgia missing from stock market

11 May 2017

Trump's sacking of FBI boss Comey has sparked worries about a crisis similar to the one that forced another Republican president out of the White House in 1974. A 40 pct decline in the Dow accompanied that ordeal. Investors don't seem to think history is repeating itself.

Hadas: Solidarity is cure to Baumol’s cost disease

10 May 2017

William Baumol showed how differences in productivity put wage pressure on artists and other inefficient workers. The economist, who died last week, was right, but his analysis was too individualistic. The challenge is to find fair ways to share out the fruits of prosperity.

Cox: Tech monopolies crowding out little guys

4 May 2017

Disruption remains the biggest buzzword for the startup community, evidenced at this week's Collision conference in New Orleans. With the so-called FAANG stocks now worth a collective $2.4 trln, however, they may be in a position to squelch any challenges to their own dominance.

Holding: SEC’s home-court edge nearing welcome end

4 May 2017

The U.S. regulator has been using in-house tribunals to run up the score against Wall Street targets. A rare loss last month and a new bill in Congress, however, may push more cases into federal court, where legal safeguards are stronger. Fairer hearings are worth giving up a few wins.

Hadas: Basic income is basically confused

3 May 2017

As new technology threatens job security, the dream of giving all citizens a simple payment is making a comeback. But the idea is too expensive to be practical. It also ignores the biggest drawback of modern welfare states: that lives are complicated and people are not angels.

Cox: Proximity to Trump no blessing for stocks

27 April 2017

Equity-market winners and losers from the president's first 100 days are surprising. "Failing" New York Times shares have surged. White House talent providers Goldman Sachs and Exxon are down. Blackstone and Fox are flat. Distance from the Oval Office may prove a virtue.