What the Black Death tells us about the Global Economic Consequences of a Pandemic

Even with lockdown rules eased, people are still reluctant to stretch outside their comfort zones into the new flexible world of rules! With exercise restrictions lifted, people still seem to be set in their old ways, refusing to go for more than 1 form of exercise a day… but why? Adrian Bell takes a look into the psychology and statistics of it.

Boris Johnson threatened to withhold UK's Brexit bill. But defaulting on payments owed to European creditors is not new for the UK and dates back to Medieval England.

Munich, 16 October 2013 – There is currently a high level of uncertainty on the international financial markets, due to the budget dispute in the USA surrounding the proposed raising of the borrowing limit. The markets are waiting with bated breath to see whether the Democrats and the Republicans will be able to agree on raising the debt ceiling, which currently stands at just under 17 trillion US dollars. The key question for investors is whether the USA and other countries will be able to pay back the debts they have taken on or whether, as in the case of the debt cut in Greece, they can expect to see losses on their investments. A recent study based on sustainability rating agency oekom research’s country ratings shows that sustainability ratings are a reliable indicator of countries’ solvency and that taking sustainability ratings into account allows investors to make a better assessment of the overall risks.