Yule never make sense of it. Rai DztorIn 1897, the American newspaper editor Francis Pharcellus Church penned a famous reply to a young reader who wrote in with doubts about the existence of a certain old man in a red suit who spent a lot of time around chimneys: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”.
Interest rates were remarkably stable in ancient societies. It has been argued that this was because they reflected the local system of numerical fractions. Classical Greece had a “normal” interest rate of 10% per annum to reflect its smallest fractional unit, dekate, for instance, whereas classical Rome’s was 8.33% per annum to reflect its smallest fractional unit of 1/12th, uncia.
Central banks are being tested by the recent resurgence in inflation, with the US recently reporting an annual rate of inflation of 6.8%, the highest in nearly 40 years. The question they are all asking is whether this inflation is temporary (“transitory”) or persistent.
ESstock / ShutterstockWith Christmas coming soon and last-minute shopping underway, it is worth questioning the origin of some of our favourite holiday and gift items. It is highly likely that some of the gifts under your tree – including
'51 million wiki pages down, 3 million to go ...' Allies InteractiveNot a day passes without a fascinating snippet on the ethical challenges created by “black box” artificial intelligence systems. These use machine learning to figure out patterns within data and make decisions – often without a human giving them any moral basis for how to do it.
Taking orders. Shutterstock/PattyPhotoThe latest directive from the UK government that people should work from home has led to concerns about the impact on businesses in the run up to Christmas.
A high vaccination rate is the foundation of any pandemic policy, but further protection is still needed. From an economic perspective, that protection comes from more investment in healthcare and air quality, which now seem essential complements to vaccines and face masks.
AlesiaKan / ShutterstockAround 2.8 million households across England casually rented out part of or their entire home on platforms such as Airbnb in 2017-18.
Stuck in first gear.
