Niall Ferguson
Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
AP Photo
June 29, 2009
"Do not count on the Tories winning just yet"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Most commentators assume that whenever the election happens it will be won by the Conservatives. The Labour party had its worst performance in the recent elections since 1910. As in the 1990s, the electorate is sick of the incumbent party. Just as the Labour party had young, telegenic Tony Blair in 1997, so the Tories today have young, telegenic David Cameron.
Yet this is to overstate the strength of the Conservative position."
iStock Photo
June 5, 2009
"Corrupt, Amoral Politicians. An Economy Sinking in Terrifying Debt. And a People Enraged. Britain has been Here Before... and the Lesson Should Chill Us All."
Op-Ed, Daily Mail
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"A corrupt parliament; an unprincipled government; an economy sinking under a mountain of debt - and a people enraged. Not a bad description of Britain in 2009."
AP Photo
May 30, 2009
"A History Lesson for Economists in Thrall to Keynes"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
It is a brave or foolhardy man who picks a fight with Mr Krugman, the most recent recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics. Yet a cat may look at a king, and sometimes a historian can challenge an economist.
May 17, 2009
"Diminished Returns"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Human beings are as good at devising ex post facto explanations for big disasters as they are bad at anticipating those disasters. It is indeed impressive how rapidly the economists who failed to predict this crisis - or predicted the wrong crisis (a dollar crash) - have been able to produce such a satisfying story about its origins. Yes, it was all the fault of deregulation."
iStock Photo
March 1, 2009
"Our Great Recession"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Niall Ferguson discusses the recession which began in December 2007, by March had already lasted longer than the average postwar recession.
February 4, 2009
"Beyond the Age of Leverage: Alternative Cures for the Global Financial Crisis"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"At last week's World Economic Forum at Davos there was much retrospective finger-pointing--Russia and China blamed America, everyone blamed the bankers, the bankers blamed everyone--but little in the way of forward-looking ideas. From where I was sitting, the majority of attendees were still stuck in the Great Repression: deeply anxious, but fundamentally in denial about the nature and magnitude of the problem."
February 2, 2009
"Beyond the Age of Leverage: New Banks Must Arise"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Call it the Great Repression. The reality being repressed is that the western world is suffering a crisis of excessive indebtedness. Many governments are too highly leveraged, as are many corporations. More importantly, households are groaning under unprecedented debt burdens. Worst of all are the banks. The best evidence that we are in denial about this is the widespread belief that the crisis can be overcome by creating yet more debt."
iStock Photo
December 2008
"Wall Street Lays Another Egg"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Vanity Fair
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Not so long ago, the dollar stood for a sum of gold, and bankers knew the people they lent to. The author charts the emergence of an abstract, even absurd world-call it Planet Finance-where mathematical models ignored both history and human nature, and value had no meaning."
October 3, 2008
"The American Future"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Niall Ferguson offers a book review on Simon Schama's book "The American Future: A History."
iStock Photo
July 14, 2008
"China’s War on Nature"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Niall Ferguson analyzes China's ability to use the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a way to peacefully gain power in international politics.
