Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL Interviews the world's leading thinkers, and the people shaping the century.

At a very fundamental level, war is about defending against a perceived or actual threat.  Such aggressions have been frequently used throughout history to defend ideas, ideologies and territories- but more recently, economies. Unlike any other defence environment, the theatre of nuclear war exists in a state of near-permanent checkmate. …

 

In my article of September 01st 2010 “Thinking Ourselves Into Another Recession” I discussed how psychology plays a critical role in the well-being of an economy.  Using the paradigm of eating disorders, we discussed how: “…When we talk of economic confidence, business confidence, or even confidence in global markets, we…

 

As the Economist reported, “On September 12th the Basel Committee, a club of supervisors and bank regulators, finally reached agreement on how much extra stuffing needs to go into the cushions [of banks] to absorb losses and buffer the financial system against the next crisis.” The “Basel III” recommendations set…

 

Reporting on the increased perceived risk of a double-dip recession, the Huffington Posted noted how there is “..a growing sense of doom among some prominent economists“.  They went on to cite Nouriel Roubini, the cofounder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics and a professor at New York University’s Stern School…

 

UN Dispatch reported the words of Ban Ki Moon (UN Secretary General), who visited the Pakistan floods, saying, “This has been a heart-wrenching day, and I will never forget the destruction and suffering that I have witnessed.  I have visited the scenes of many natural disasters around the world, but…

 

In July 2010, the Economist observed how non-profit organisations “…are commonly advised to become more like for-profit businesses. Management experts and consultants view them as horribly inefficient due to the absence of the concentrating power of the profit motive… [however] there has been barely any reciprocal pressure on for-profit firms…

 

In his 1817 book, “On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation“, David Ricardo explained the principle of economic comparative advantage.  He drew example from the production of wine and cloth in England and Portugal and explained, “In England it is very hard to produce wine, and only moderately difficult…

 

There is little doubt that taxation is an economically necessary and ethically valid part of society’s structure.  “Taxes” stated Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. “…are the price of civilisation.” Many cite taxation as having four ‘key’ roles in society, The generation of revenue for the state to provide infrastructure, education, defence,…

 

In this interview, we speak to Professor Charles Wyplosz who is Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, where he is Director of the International Centre of Money and Banking Studies and an Independent Economic Advisor to the President of the European Commission. We…

 

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Truth is a quality of reality. It has nothing to do with what I believe. Truth, when it comes to empirical issues, is an objective thing. Whether something is true or not is independent of whether I think it is true or not, and a lot of people confuse this. People say that we cannot trust science because once-upon-a-time scientists held it true that the earth was flat; that's not correct. It was never true that the earth was flat, even if people believed it.

Individuality is my biggest fight, not #MeToo. People need to realise their own power, their own freedom, and their own ability to be better.

— Rose McGowan
Actress & #MeToo activist who exposed Harvey Weinstein harassment

Each time we learn something new or encounter a fresh experience, we trigger a reconfiguration of our brains. Neuroplasticity is highest during youth, explaining why children and young adults up to the age of 25 absorb knowledge so rapidly. Their learning capacity is immense, akin to sponges soaking up water.

— Dr. Rudolph Tanzi
Alzheimer's disease researcher and Harvard Medical School neuroscientist

You come back and go to a job where your boss is trying to make an extra buck and your co-workers are trying to trample each other to get ahead- even though you just came back from a place where people were willing to die for you.

Bill Gates of Microsoft is on-record as saying, '...Microsoft would not function as a company in the way that it does without operations in Israel.' Intel also have a number of substantial R&D facilities here... All the chips also have Hebrew biblical names which are the original names of the chips as they are developed in laboratories here in Israel.

— Michael Freedman
Mathematician & Topologist, Solved the 4-Dimensional Poincaré Conjecture

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Long-form Interviews with the World's Leading Thinkers — Thought Economics


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