Cyprus: weak tax administration and prolific tax evasion
The large magnitudes of tax evasion and tax avoidance are having a profound impact on the economy and citizens of Cyprus. Tax evasion is defined as the deliberate non or ...
It is Trump against Biden again in US
There was a very amusing TV clip on BBC World Service last week in which its man in Beijing, Stephen McDonell asks delegates milling about at the Great Hall of ...
Render unto Caesar, render unto God
THE WAY THINGS ARE
Critical thinking doesn’t mean teaching children selected influences the teacher either approves or disapproves of. It means giving unbiased information and allowing a child to ...
South Korea: Hyper-Competitive and Childless
There are enough people to go around: eight billion now, compared to two billion less than a hundred years ago. Fifty-one million in South Korea, compared to only twelve million ...
Time to see great change in the garden
This is the month when we see great changes in the garden. There are swathes of bright yellow in the countryside, a foretaste of the sunny weather to come. Not ...
How natural gas could reduce electricity prices
Cyprus inability to benefit from LNG because of the Vasilikos debacle is proving to be costly
European gas prices have tumbled down to levels last seen before the crisis. The ...
Secrecy surrounds Turkish military taking over of airport in north
Opposition party says not given adequate information before a vote on airport’s contested future
The protocol between the north Cyprus and Turkey regarding the handing over of Lefkoniko airport ...
The utility of neutrality
Neutrality used to be a European thing, but it is now in steep decline. If it were an animal, we’d have to declare it an endangered species.
For hundreds ...
Is Palestinian self-determination on the horizon?
As Palestinians stand on the brink of extinction, their right to a state of their own is vital, League of Arab States tells ICJ
In January the International Court of ...
Proposals to reform the government budgetary framework
By Andreas Charalambous and Omiros Pissarides
Cyprus’ performance in public finances is considered satisfactory, as reflected, among others, in the favourable evaluations of international organizations and rating agencies. As a ...
UK Parliament’s Gaza Ceasefire Resolution
There was pandemonium in the mother of parliaments at Westminster last Wednesday when the Scottish National Party (SNP) was prevented from having a vote on a call for a ceasefire ...
Nikki Haley: last woman standing
“I refuse to quit. I feel no need to kiss the ring,” said Nikki Haley defiantly. She was talking about Donald Trump’s ring, of course, because she is predicted ...
Rage against the dying of the light, with Baileys
THE WAY THINGS ARE
Euthanasia is legal in some countries, not in others. It costs to have the privilege of deciding when it’s time to die in comfort, slipping ...
One day there will be statues of Alexei Navalny in Moscow
Vladimir Putin’s regime had been assassinating Chechen warlords, defectors from the Russian intelligence services and sundry wayward oligarchs for years, but its first political murder was the hit on ...
From catastrophe to salvation for Cyprus electricity users
Leaving aside the issues of how the doomed LNG project was awarded, the key issue is to recover and complete it
Much has been said and written about the debacle ...
Nato needs the Russian bear of old
Nato joke aside, Trump’s isolationism nothing new in US
Donald Trump’s rant in which he encouraged Russia to attack Nato member states failing to comply with their treaty ...
The importance of independent fiscal councils
By Andreas Charalambous and Omiros Pissarides
In most developed societies, we observe the establishment of institutions that aim at the wider social benefit, through the technocratic assessment of fiscal policies.
...
Turning Japanese
IT did not end well for Karolina Shiino, the young woman who won the title of Miss Japan two weeks ago. She has just handed her crown back after a ...
Life’s a bitch sometimes
World leaders have this week shown their vulnerable side
Poor King Charles. He was admitted to the London Clinic for a routine procedure to treat a benign prostate condition and ...
Banana Republic(ans), septic Isles
THE WAY THINGS ARE
‘The politician man says do the best you can. And I will do my very best to help. Yes, please do sir, help yourself.’ So sang ...
US and the Mideast: will mistakes of past be repeated?
In the immediate aftermath of the massacre of 1,140 Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists last October, US President Joe Biden went to Israel and gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu some ...
Wealthy households, high debt and low incomes
Cypriots own a lot of property but that hides the true story
Ultimately, economics is about people. In this connection the ECB Household Finance and Consumption Surveys (HFCS) provide valuable ...
In historic first, a Sinn Fein leader becomes Northern Irish first minister
History will be made in Ireland when the leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, becomes first minister as leader of the largest party in the Northern ...
Implications of Argentina’s dollarisation experiment
By Andreas Charalambous and Omiros Pissarides
The calendar marked December 10, 2023 when, having just won the election based on an extreme “liberal” agenda, the economist Javier Milei entered the office of ...