Recently, I gathered with strategy and diplomacy experts ahead of the U.S. elections. As you know, it is said that "where diplomacy ends, war begins." Winston Churchill even reinforced this phrase by stating, “Jaw jaw is better than war war.” In other words, talking is better than fighting.

There used to be a frequently repeated anecdote in Turkey. Although it might have been perceived as a joke, it actually contained a serious truth. It described the differences between Americans, Germans, and Turks.

Alongside current writings, it is essential to sometimes engage in historical studies to correctly understand the causes of what is happening to us today. I do not believe that we will go in the right direction with evaluations disconnected from the past or with an outlook that judges the past through today’s conditions. Therefore, in this week’s article, I wanted to analyze the Cold War period.

The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded this year to three esteemed academics who co-authored the same study. In summary, their work illustrated that geography is not destiny, but rather the philosophy behind the institutions that govern the masses directly impacts development and other factors.

In some countries, due to extremely high inflation, the largest banknote printed has become meaningless, putting central banks under public pressure. Some say, "Big banknotes create inflation," while economists like me argue that "there's no relation, but it could be an admission of the existence of high inflation."

I must tell you that I felt sad when our courtesy visit to Barcelona ended, due to my brother being a grandfather. My niece Alara has been living in Barcelona for 9 years. It is easy to understand why she and her husband have not given up this place. And they are not alone; many people, regardless of which country in the world they come from, do not want to leave Barcelona. Let me illustrate this with a simple example.

Central Banks and Regulatory Authorities take certain steps within the framework of laws and regulations to achieve balanced economic growth while maintaining financial stability. These steps are, by their nature, not simple and clear-cut. It would be better if they were, but I have never seen a clear explanation that a regular citizen could easily understand.

Recently, there was an international brand meeting in Istanbul focused on sustainability. Within a week, I had the opportunity to speak at a second international conference. I realized that when it comes to sustainability, people are often not fully aware of the topic. For example, a friend who saw me in the lobby of the hotel where the conference was held asked, “You’re attending that environment-related meeting, right?” This alone showed me that we have a long way to go.

While you read these lines, I am most likely delivering the opening speech for the international conference themed “Technology, Development, and Sustainability,” hosted by Topkapi University. Together with dozens of academics we have invited from MENA, namely the Middle East and North Africa countries, we will seek solutions to the region's problems.

For some countries, 2024 is a year of growth, for others, it is about rehabilitation, and for some, it is turning out to be a "lost year". The experience of combating inflation with high interest rates has generally been unsuccessful, yet the high interest environment has put growth rates at risk.

In last week’s article, I wrote about the main culprit of inflation. Now, I will discuss how it can be reduced. First, it’s beneficial to create a nice introduction. Perhaps the most striking statement in the fight against inflation came from Russian President Putin. He seems to have addressed the issue of „coordination among economic actors,“ which I have been repeating for a long time.

Famous economist Milton Friedman has a quote that stays in all our minds. It can be summarized as follows: „The cause of inflation is not consumers, producers, imports, energy, etc., but excessive government spending and the excessive money creation by governments.“

With the start of football leagues immediately after the Olympics, the agenda has changed again, of course. However, I can say that football, which spends a lot of money but never changes its bad luck, will not make everybody happy in the 2024-2025 season. The reason is clear: Not knowing the Football Economy.

The news coming from the United States and Japan suddenly caused adverse winds to blow in the markets. However, I would like to underline that there is a missing point in the comments and evaluations about the difficulties faced by the US Economy. At the moment, we don't have much evidence or arguments to discuss a recession.

It really makes me sad to see valuable people always struggle with their own financial demons when they are supposed to be creating high added value. The truth is that people who constantly worry about their savings are not destined to accomplish extraordinary things in life.