PFI

There is a good overview of the PFI at the FT today.

The item calls overall for an assessment of the costs and benefits. The costs are clearly associated with the increased cost of borrowing and the fact that some projects are miscalculated so that the private sector makes huge profits. The benefits seem to come from the increased chance that projects will be completed on time and the transfer of risk to the private sector.

Commodity prices in Babylonia

Here is an amazing discussion of commodity prices in ancient Babylonia.

Increase in global labour supply

Martin Wolf: "First, by simply weighing each country’s labour force by the share of exports in total GDP, the authors conclude that the effective global labour supply quadrupled between 1980 and 2005, with half of the increase coming from east Asia. "