The efficient markets hypothesis implies that arbitrage opportunities in markets such as those for foreign exchange (FX) would be, at most, short-lived. The present paper surveys the fragmented nature of FX markets, revealing that information in these markets is also likely to be fragmented. The...

Considers two main strands of literature. The first deals with the tension between the falsificationist view of how economic know‐ledge could or should be acquired, and the view that economics is a separate, deductive science. The second concerns the metaphors used in economic analysis, the...

Looks at the relevance to economic systems of force field equilibrium metaphors. Points out that the force field view of physical reality developed in nineteenth century physics does not necessarily involve homeostasis and reversible time paths. Illustrates the properties of force fields with...

Assesses the NAIRU framework for analysing the determinants of equilibrium unemployment, as expressed in Layard, Nickell and Jackman′s Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market . It is argued that the NAIRU has produced many useful insights regarding the effects of...

Reviews Milton and Rose D. Friedman’s, Two Lucky People: Memoirs, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998, $35 (£24.95), ISBN 0‐226‐26414‐9. Focuses on how the memoirs illuminate the main contributions Friedman has made to political economy and the economics literature.

The efficient markets hypothesis implies that arbitrage opportunities in markets such as those for foreign exchange (FX) would be, at most, short-lived. The present paper surveys the fragmented nature of FX markets, revealing that information in these markets is also likely to be fragmented. The...

The World Bank has published estimates of sustainability of consumption paths by adjusting saving rates to take account of the depletion of non-renewable resources. During the period of North Sea oil production Scotland has been in a fiscal union with the rest of the UK. The present paper...