NEW YORK Rulers have always found it hard to accept limits on their power. When the French parliament disputed Louis XIV’s edicts in 1655, the king of France and Navarre is said to have responded: “L’état, c’est moi” (“I am the state”). The ensuing age of absolutism in France ended only with the French Revolution in 1789.
Katharina Pistor highlights the government's role in perpetuating financial-sector fragility, urges stronger legal accountability for political leaders, explains why trading nature derivatives should not be confused with protecting nature, and more
NEW YORK Finance used to be a means to an end, not an end in itself. From food and housing to family vacations, everything in our daily lives must be paid for one way or another. If we do not have cash on hand, we turn to a lender for a credit line.Companies do the same. They routinely finance their operations by borrowing or issuing equity stakes to investors, who will part