L’Agence France-Trésor, qui gère la dette de l’Etat, vient de publier son estimation des « primes d’émission » encaissées à l’occasion du placement de ses obligations pour l’année en cours. On a signalé, ici, à maintes reprises, cette anomalie qui consistait, au nom de la liquidité, à émettre à des taux très supérieurs à ceux du marché. Ainsi, en plein mois d’août,  la France a proposé différents emprunts pour un montant nominal total de 6 milliards assortis d’une durée de 8 à 35 ans avec des taux compris entre 4 et 6 ...

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As serious the Volkswagen affair is, it must not conceal the structural weaknesses of the German economy. Through a well known writer trick, to avoid repetition, the country is systematically qualified as the “first economic power in Europe” in comments but never the “country in Europe with the oldest population”. The size of the German economy is an indisputable statistical fact, but it is not the result of its economic achievements. It is the mechanical consequence of the German unification which 25^th birthday we are celebrating this year. And this historical change has not facilitated economic growth since, to ...

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Why put off something to the next day when you can do it the day after the next day, said, with humor, Mark Twain. This joke sums up perfectly the non-decision by the FED regarding interests rates in the U.S. Explanations are not convincing. China has a broad back. An interest rate increase in the U.S, regarded until the meeting as sure, would have generated a rise of the dollar, followed by the Yuan since the two currencies were linked by a fixed parity. This is why Chinese authorities, indeed at the worst time, had decided to reform ...

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