The Great Debate UK
What our wellbeing says about the economy
- Peter Dixon is a guest columnist, the views expressed are his own. He is global financial economist at Commerzbank -
The popular image of economists is one of pointy-headed analysts, poring over data and running models in order to make predictions about the future which will invariably prove to be wrong.
While this is a distortion of the truth, the economics profession has not helped itself in recent years by cloaking analysis in pseudo-scientific terms, making it inaccessible to those without the necessary degree of mathematical training.
Although the great crash of 2007-08 has done nothing to enhance the reputation of economists’ ability to predict the future, it has opened up a debate about the nature of research undertaken in the economics and finance professions.
Commerzbank acts fast to bury Kleinwort
– Alexander Smith is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –
Dresdner Bank spent 15 years tinkering with the investment banking operations of Kleinwort Benson, the UK merchant bank it bought in 1995.
