Heightened tensions in the Middle East have naturally impacted the markets. However, social media has made us all so accustomed to any disaster that the recovery has already begun just as I expected. Investors appear to have let go of the panic sentiment caused by the first attack.

In today's world, where cause and effect relationships are more complex and less apparent, it is not easy to make the right decisions. Because you need accurate information to do that.

Amidst the excitement and question marks created by the BRICS summit, the world once again recognises that the next biggest global mega trend is 5G. 5G technologies have the power to connect not only different geographical regions or objects to each other via the IoT, but also different approaches, cultures and knowledge, and it could even bring more understanding that would eliminate meaningless hatred.

In September, I was invited to attend a key conference in Shanghai, one of the largest and busiest cities not only in China, but also in the whole world. During my few days at the conference, I had the opportunity to explore the fact that the Chinese government, which still maintains its "Open Door" policy, had taken important steps to ensure the city's and also the country's rapid growth and development.

For the past few years, people have been asking me, "why is the independence of central banks under threat from politics?" There are many reasons underlying this threat. We should, however, avoid blaming government v central bank tensions directly for economic instability, because sometimes the monetary system itself and the central banks may be the reason for instability.

Today, high inflation causes a comprehensive change in usual consumption behaviours. The "problem of supplying first-hand goods" that emerged with the pandemic continues to drive consumers to seek other choices. A survey by Statista shows that people's tendency to buy second-hand products has radically and dramatically increased in many countries from 2019 to 2023.

This week’s article will explore the common misconceptions about the fight against inflation. These misconceptions are so commonplace that even some mainstream economists often tend to fail to express their theories correctly. Those who protest interest rate hikes and those who advocate rapid hikes commit the same bigotry.

Hardly a day goes by without someone stopping me on the street and asking me, “Professor, what do you think I should invest in, euro or dollar, gold or something else?” Getting sick and tired of all these questions, I finally decided to start a new, yet somewhat peculiar, discussion: “which one do you prefer, dollar or art?”

Life is not fair. Because a vast majority is not fair. But, before getting into the subject I will make a comprehensive intro. For thousands of years, philosophers and economists have been trying to determine what a “fair price“ should be. In this pursuit, ”labour cost“ or “labour hour“ has been the most important parameter to some; to others, it was “scarcity”.

In the early 2000s, “supply chain management“ was the chief determining trend in world trade. Manufacturers would produce different components of a product in different parts of the world and put them together in a country with which they had a free trade agreement.

My wife and I started looking for a new house last year in July, but it took us almost four or five months to find a suitable house to rent in Istanbul. Sometimes the price was affordable, but the construction quality was not, sometimes everything about the house was fine, but the rent was too high.

At the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, you see at least a few participants deliver a presentation on “global risks”. The titles or the priority of these risks changes every year. Now, let’s take a quick look at the medium-term risks of this year: - Continuing bank collapses in the US - Debt crisis - Climate change - Russia-Ukraine war - High inflation - Likelihood of a recession - Contraction in world trade

At a meeting I attended earlier this week, I had the opportunity to get an insight from highly respected experts about the details of Sweden’s NATO accession. The experience was quite mind-opening for me. Frankly, such interactions seem more important and fundamental to me, compared to daily questions I get about exchange rates, interest rates and stock markets. Now, allow me to offer a brief analysis of Turkey’s recent diplomatic moves.

I sometimes get verbally attacked by some of my colleagues who try to score public points on social media. Two types of economists do this: - Those who do have not a degree in economics but later started to write on economics. - The “has-beens” who try to become popular again.

Margaret Thatcher said in the 1980s: “the state has no source of money other than the money people earn themselves. If the state wishes to spend more, it can do so only by borrowing your savings or by taxing you more. There is no such thing as public money, there is only taxpayers’ money”.