Monthly Archives: May 2007

Obstacles to Infrastructure Privatizations

Is infrastructure privatization more problematic than other debt-financed buyouts? Not really.
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Will Venezuela Really Default on its Bonds?

If Venezuela withdraws from the IMF, that could put the country into technical default on its bonds. But it’s not a major worry.
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Who Should Banks Be Worried About?

It’s not hedge funds, and it’s not private equity.
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In Praise of Infrastructure Privatization

The government gets more money than the asset is worth, and gets to spend it on the public; meanwhile, the private-sector is burdened with the liabilities for the next 100 years.
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Does Latin America Need More Investment?

In this age of abundant global liquidity, it’s interesting to consider that there’s an entire continent which is seemingly still desperate for more investment.
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Uruguay: A Quiet Latin Success Story

Carlos Steneri and the resurgence of Uruguay.
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The $100 Billion Toy

It’s one step forward, two steps back for ABN Amro CEO Rijkman Groenink.
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Costas Implodes

John Costas thought he could run a hedge fund. He was wrong.
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“They Look at Money as a Proxy for Aggression”

To get rich, you have to be aggressive. If you’re aggressive, you’ll be rich. So if you’re not rich, you can’t be aggressive. Ergo, to get rich, you have to be rich.
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Bancrofts: More Split Than They Might Seem

Dow Jones’s controlling shareholders only control the company if they’re united. And it’s not clear that they are.
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Rogoff, Wolfowitz, and Blue Ribbons

Le Monde admits its mistake, and Portfolio reveals the true extent of the DC blue-ribbon shortage.
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Moving a Carbon Tax Towards Cap-and-Trade

Still, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki and Liberal Party leader Stephan Dion have an interesting idea which brings a carbon tax closer to a cap-and-trade system.
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Corporate Water Reporting: Weak

One expects companies in water-intensive industries such as mining to carefully audit their use of water. They don’t.
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The Necessity of the Closet

Why it’s overly simplistic to say that Lord Browne should never have been in the closet in the first place.
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Follow-ups: Chase, Rogoff

Chase responds to the security-breach video; Le Monde falls for Ken Rogoff’s fake Wolfowitz memo.
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Lord Browne: Victim of Homophobic Persecution

Browne is very much the victim here. The Daily Mail, which paid over $100,000 to Chevalier for his kiss-and-tell story, is the homophobic persecutor, using the flimsiest of excuses to out the former BP chief.
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Hedge Fund Leverage Falling

The UK’s FSA says that hedge-fund leverage is falling. But its survey doesn’t — can’t — tell the whole story.
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WSJ on the WSJ

Has Rupert held out a promise of editorial independence for the Wall Street Journal?
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The Tragedy of John Browne

Lord Browne was brought down at the intersection of two explosively dangerous institutions: the closet, on the one hand, and the UK legal system, on the other.
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News Corp-Dow Jones: Hope Yet For Rupert

The unions hate
it
. The owners are going to vote
against
it. The New York Observer says that it’s sunk.
So is there any hope for Rupert Murdoch in his bid to buy Dow
Jones?
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Does Economics Reduce Poverty?

The number of people living on less than a dollar a day is decreasing. Can economists claim any credit?
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Wolfowitz, Rogoff, and Intrade

Ken Rogoff laughs in Paul Wolfowitz’s face.
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Murdoch-Dow Jones Roundup

Instant reactions to the Dow Jones news.
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Murdoch bids for Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is the kind of property that newspapermen spend entire lifetimes dreaming about owning.
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Were There Accounting Problems at New Century?

The New York Times thinks there were. But the New York Times might not be right.
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