March 29, 2024

Economix Blog: Weekend Business Podcast: Europe’s Financial Crisis, the Guggenheims and Online Privacy

The European financial crisis has already roiled markets around the world, but it’s likely that worse is yet to come.

That’s the view of Gretchen Morgenson, who analyzes the effects of the European crisis on the United States financial system and economy in the new Weekend Business podcast, and in her column in Sunday Business.

While central banks and political leaders are trying to ameliorate the crisis, a default by Greece is quite probable, she says, and that is likely to be felt in the United States in two main ways. Credit default swaps insuring against a default will entangle some as-yet-unknown American counterparties, she says, and the shock could lead to another full-blown credit crisis, which would harm the markets and the economy.

The fundamental mechanism underlying world markets is the focus of Robert Frank’s new book, “The Darwin Economy,” an adaptation of which appears in Sunday Business. In a podcast conversation, he argues that Charles Darwin, the naturalist, was a greater economist than Adam Smith. Darwin’s theory of evolution explains why markets sometimes produce socially unacceptable results — and the reason, Professor Frank says, is intrinsic to competition. Unlike Smith’s “invisible hand” theory, Darwin’s theory says that group and individual interests sometimes conflict, in which case, individual interests win. Government sometimes needs to step in to correct matters, he says.

In another conversation, Graham Bowley tells David Gillen about the history of the Guggenheim family and of individuals who are accused of trying to swindle investors based on the false claim that they, too, are members of that illustrious clan. The saga of the Guggenheims and would-be Guggenheims is the subject of Mr. Bowley’s article on the cover of Sunday Business.

And, finally, Natasha Singer discusses online ID systems that, she says, may threaten individual privacy. She elaborates on this theme in the Slipstream column in Sunday Business.

You can find specific segments of the podcast at these junctures: Gretchen Morgenson (34:29); news summary (27:03); Graham Bowley (24:38); Natasha Singer (17:32); Robert Frank (10:11); and the week ahead (2:06).

As articles discussed in the podcast are published during the weekend, links will be added to this post.

You can download the program by subscribing from The New York Times’s podcast page or directly from iTunes.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=2ef447ba029f70f1b76f9c57197a6f46

Speak Your Mind