Alex Singleton

The Wall Street Journal Europe’s excellent Kyle Wingfield gave a speech this morning in Brussels to International Leaders Summit, organised by Croatia’s Adriatic Institute. He was upbeat on Europe’s tax situation, saying that the trend line for the EU is going in the right direction. There may, he said, be some worrying specifics, for example […]

It is commonly believed that it is in the French national interest to keep quotas on textiles from China. The idea of French business as sickly and needing constant protection is unfortunate and inaccurate. But it is fuelled by constant demands from French politicians to protect this industry or that, and of course to promote […]

Europe’s high-end hi-fi industry has long had an excellent reputation. But in the past 30 years, European manufacturers have found it difficult to compete against cheaper products from Asian manufacturers. European manufacturers that have chosen to be “patriotic” and keep production at home have often found themselves going out of business. But Europe’s hi-fi industry […]

The New Yorker has an article in its August 27th issue which asks: “How much did the Marshall Plan really matter?”. Niall Ferguson, its author, writes:
[A] significant number of eminent economic historians - notably, the British scholar Alan Milward - have questioned just how vital Marshall Aid really was for Europe’s postwar recovery. According to […]

The failure of sanctions throughout history in the majority of cases does not seem to stop people calling for them. They punish a country’s population while the political leadership carries on living in luxury. The current issue of The Economist reports that life is difficult for the Burmese and it has just got worse because […]

The British government’s postal company, Royal Mail Group, is currently suffering from trade union-organised strikes. Royal Mail’s sorting facilities badly need more mechanisation, as has been introduced by all of Royal Mail’s competitors. The Communication Workers’ Union disagrees. The strikes are bad news for the future of the company as they will help encourage customers […]

“Freedom and Whisky gang thegither,” wrote the Scottish poet Robert Burns. And this month economic freedom and whisky truly have gone hand in hand with the decision by India to hack away at punitive import tariffs on Scottish whisky. Scotch producers are delighted, believing that they could see exports to India increase by a factor […]

Yesterday give a speech and was part of a panel for students of the University of Cambridge’s postgraduate certificate in sustainable business. I spoke on the how global business and globalisation not only creates greater wealth but also goes hand in hand with cleaner environments (after the very early stages of development). I explained that […]

Globalisation’s effect on promoting social progress is significant, and an article in The Wall Street Journal this week reinforces it. The article says:
For thousands of years, advancement in India has been restricted by its caste system, which is enshrined in the country’s dominant Hindu religion. While Brahmins, the highest caste, are said to stem from […]

One of the worries people have about globalisation is that all the jobs will end up where the labour is cheapest, leaving workers in already-rich countries out of work. Empirically, this is not the case. There are more jobs today in Europe and in United States than ever before. Sunday’s issue of The Observer gives […]