The paper makes the case for commodities as an investible asset class, offering benefits through enhanced returns and portfolio risk diversification. The paper explains the various elements that combine to create a risk premium for commodity investment. It then discusses arguments against the...

This paper presents some of the historical background to the question, What is the fair price to pay for the use of someone else's money? It identifies weaknesses in the arguments that have been used to justify the regulation of interest rates by the political or religious authorities. It argues...

This paper provides a sketch of what a credible explanation for the financial crisis of 2007-09 might look like. It reviews in brief what I take to be the most important causal relationships: between US property prices and the liquidity of mortgage backed securities; between regulatory...

Several recent reports from regulatory bodies have recommended that money market funds should be required to move from stable to variable net asset valuation pricing, to reduce the risk of first-mover advantage and the risk of a run on the fund. Most money market fund sponsors doubt that this...

Our purpose is to show that the microfinance industry practices can benefit from the culture and spiritual traditions of a country.We use the Bhagavad Gita and the codes of Manu and Kautilya to describe the background of Hindu teaching and practical wisdom. We use a case study of a Hindu...