The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the great challenges that will characterize the XXI Century. In the background we consider the problem of the relationship between “Us” and the “Others”, that is how to reconcile the power of Western universalism with the multitudes of other...

This book review presents a summary of “Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy” by Raghuram Rajan, who puts forward a clear and cogent account of the latest global financial crisis. With the historical perspective he adopts, Rajan digs in deeper than the shallow...

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was one of the great architects of the euro. He is remembered in particular as co-rapporteur for the Delors Committee and as a founding member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board. For Padoa-Schioppa, becoming Director-General of the European Commission's DG II...

After 10 years of abstinence from the European Monetary Union, should the UK be seriously thinking about joining the Eurozone? Especially in view of the European Central Bank's improved reputation as a crisis manager in the wake of the financial crisis, could EMU represent a safe haven for the...

The pro-cyclical behavior inherent in the operation of financial markets is at the heart of the current financial crisis. Against the arguments upheld by orthodox economists, these markets do not stabilize by themselves nor tend to smooth the private spending behavior. This problem has been...

In his Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith (1776) considered the phenomenon of division of labor so enormously significant for the creation of a nation’s wealth that he devoted the first three chapters of his book to an investigation of this process. This is...

Over viewing the most recently evolutions throughout global economy, we can easily conceive that the collateral effects of economical globalization and market integration, represents the main issues debated in specialized professional or political circles. The unanimous impression underlines the...

Composite indicators are regularly used for benchmarking countries’ performance, but equally often stir controversies about the unavoidable subjectivity that is connected with their construction. Data Envelopment Analysis helps to overcome some key limitations, viz., the undesirable dependence...

We consider the lack of consensus about an appropriate theoretical framework linking sub-indicators as a defining characteristic of composite indicators. This intrinsic feature implies uncertainties about the appropriate normalisation and aggregation of the raw data. The two are related: index...