One of the more frequent and most underrated activities as an academic is reviewing materials for publication. Training for this at the PhD level is often ignored. One of the interesting aspects of receiving reviews is seeing how others approach the process. Sometimes this is interesting for good reasons (as in, ‘I should do this’) […]
Financial innovation and macroprudential policies
A project with Max Bernier, a former MSc student of mine, was recently (and very speedily) accepted at Research in Economics, after spending a long time awaiting a second reviewer at another journal. We take an aggregate approach to financial innovation, in contrast with most other research (which focuses on distinct methods of innovation), and […]
The OBOR Problem
Over the past few years, China’s One Belt-One Road (OBOR) investment and trade initiative has gained a lot of attention from students, particularly those visiting UCL from China. This seems to be the result of political announcements and media coverage: ‘everyone is talking about it’ is a frequent motivation. This, in itself, is not at […]
Brexit Trade Deals
I wrote a short piece for The Conversation (picked up today by the International Business Times) on Britain’s post-Brexit bargaining power in trade deals. While yesterday’s vote injects more uncertainty into the Brexit process and potential outcome, the only way the UK can hope to gain some leverage in negotiations with the US would be […]
Vintage California Wines
This is an assortment of tasting notes from grad school covering Californian reds, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and related blends (I seem to have misplaced a note on a mid-1980s Stony Hill Chardonnay). Compared to vintage Bordeaux, these were remarkably consistent in quality – this could have been down to shipping issues magnifying bottle variation – […]
Tasting through aged classified growths
One of my adventures while in grad school involved seeking out bottles from Bordeaux’s best producers with significant age. While I tended to avoid the legendary vintages of 1961, 1982, and 1990, I focused on the better of the more ‘traditional’ vintages. This meant that while the vintage conditions were often imperfect, these were to […]