Paul Jorion's Blog

Author: Paul Jorion

  • IGNORING LESSONS LEARNT

    My most recent column in the French daily paper Le Monde : Le risque systémique court toujours. As usual the translation is due to Bénédicte. Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, on September 15, 2008, and its aftermath – more than one trillion dollars being injected into the financial system – have caught people’s attention about financial firms…

  • My lecture at the Zermatt Summit, on the 16th of June 2011

    Now online. I defend my proposal of a prohibition of wagers on the evolution of prices (which was standard in the 19th century) within the framework of a Constitution for the Economy.

  • NEDERLAND 2, “Brandpunt”, Sunday 3d July 10:15 p.m.

    I’ll be on the Dutch television on Sunday night. I’m being interviewed by Aart Zeeman in a broadcast that kro produces. Can be seen here. Bekijk de video in andere formaten.… Read more…

  • Healthy / destructive system of capitalism (2d version), by Lambert de Haas

    Guest post. Taking advantage of my interview with Caroline de Gruyter in NRC Handelsblad, Lambert de Haas has put this all together. He’s expecting your remarks to make further improvements. “Healthy” / “destructive” system of capitalism (2nd version) on Prezi … Read more…

  • NRC Handelsblad, “Dit kapitalisme is gedoemd te mislukken”, Saturday June 18th 2011

    For those of you who read Dutch: an interview I had with Caroline de Gruyter, of the renowned financial daily NRC Handelsblad.

  • LE MONDE ÉCONOMIE, e-G8 : the new upcoming world, a spitting image of the old one, June 6th 2011

    “Without the networks, Internet is nothing … Internet is not just a question of liberties, it is a question of money.” When Stéphane Richard, CEO of Orange, one of the main sponsors of the e-G8, held in Paris on 24 and 25 May, uttered these unambiguous words, everybody in France seemed to be relieved: the…

  • The financial community has lost all credibility

    Here is my monthly column for May for the Economy supplement of the daily Le Monde. It was translated, courtesy of Bénédicte. For every attempt at a financial overhaul, a similar method has been used: consultation of the financial community by the authorities, followed by negotiations towards a compromise between the demands of both parties.…

  • The work method needs to be changed, right now!

    In my most recent monthly column in Le Monde – Économie – published on May 9th, I point out the fact that underlying the negotiations held since 2008 in view of a financial overhaul, there is an implicit premise that the representatives of the financial community have the ability of relating with the common good. The period 2007 to 2009 provides us however with sufficient evidence to falsify such an optimistic hypothesis. I suggested in conclusion that appropriate…

  • Where we stand, on May 8th 2011

    www.pauljorion.com/en_blog www.pauljorion.com/blog One-day Conference in Paris on “Anthropology and the Crisis” #1 for financial and economic matters in the French-speaking world

  • Capitalism’s highs and lows

    I was asked to make the introductory speech at the Conference “Heurs et malheurs du capitalisme”, which took place at Université Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand on February 4th. Bénédicte has been so kind as to translate the written version of my speech. Capitalism’s highs and lows? When we talk these days of its highs, it…

  • One-Day Conference : Anthropology of the Crisis of Contemporary Capitalism, Paris, May 3d 2011

    International Study Day Anthropology of the Crisis of Contemporary Capitalism 3 mai 2011, 10h-17h, musée du quai Branly, 37 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris, Cinema Theater Convened by Jonathan Friedman (IRIS/EHESS) & Laurent Berger (LAS/MQB) Programme 10h-10h15 Jonathan Friedman (IRIS-EHESS) & Laurent Berger (LAS-MQB) « Introduction: Towards an anthropology of the crisis in capitalism » 10h15-11h Paul Jorion                                                                                                                       …

  • HISTORY’S LESSONS

    One thing is clear in retrospect: governments under the influence of the powers of money were a huge mistake. In the early days of the United States of America, Jefferson fought for a republic of citizens, Hamilton, for a republic of merchants. Hamilton won, that much is known. In the twentieth century, von Mises, von…

  • LE CAPITALISME À L’AGONIE, Fayard 2011

    A couple of weeks ago, my new book Le capitalisme à l’agonie came out, published by Fayard in Paris. Bénédicte has been so kind as to translate the summary I wrote for its backcover. Le capitalisme à l’agonie (Fayard 2011). Summary In 1989, at the fall of the Berlin Wall, capitalism was triumphant. Deprived by…

  • The mirage of a pluridisciplinary “science” of economics

    This is a translation (by Bénédicte Kibler) of my most recent monthly column in the Economy supplement of the French daily Le Monde: Le mirage de la pluridisciplinarité. Robert J. Shiller, professor of economics at Yale University, has published recently, along with his wife Virginia, a psychologist, an article entitled “Economists as Worldly Philosophers” (Cowles…

  • The street corner grocer’s mentality strikes again

    Mr. Alan Greenspan, who headed the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, for nearly twenty years, has recently committed an article in the Financial Times entitled “Frank-Dodd Fails to Meet test of our times.” (March, the 29th). The Dodd-Frank Act is a several thousand page long jumble of 243 separate regulations, thought of as a…

  • THIS BLOG HAS BEEN SLUGGISH…

    … to say the least. And the reason wasn’t laziness, it was just simply the success of the French version of it which has taken all my energy, plus that of François when he joined me, plus that of Julien, when he joined the team. But this blog is about to be revived and the…

  • THIS METHOD IS INADEQUATE

    They were sixteen in the euro zone. With a little help from the International Monetary Fund, they put their strength together to help Greece out. There they were: fifteen blind supporting one lame. They were fifteen countries still standing in the euro zone. With a little help from the International Monetary Fund, the UK and…

  • And then Paul Jorion created a Theory of Prices

    Original Post : And then Paul Jorion created a Theory of Prices. Translated by Lorna Miskelly. See the original article in French Article also translated in:  It’s the ‘rentrée littéraire’ in France. Among the 700 books that will be released between now and the end of October -500 of which are written in French- there is one…

  • Kerviel’s trial in France: the question no one is asking…

    An English translation of Kerviel: la question que personne ne pose posted on my French blog on June 21st. Many thanks to E-blogs for the translation. What have we learnt so far from Jérôme Kerviel’s trial about the big questions? Do his superiors know more they pretend about the transactions he was doing? Another question…

  • Le Monde – Économie, Monday 8 – Tuesday 9 March 2010

    Here an English translation of La machine infernale, my monthly column for March in Le Monde – Économie. A DEVILISH DEVICE Only five years ago, we were led to believe that the advertised model of the economic and financial apparatus represented a system that was finally mature: stable because thoroughly predisposed to self-regulate and practically…