There is a clear distinction between the travails of the eurozone and the prospects for successful, 'world beating' European companies. I think that the world has changed: in recent years, European companies have become much more global and more than ever, the quality of the business model 'trumps geography'.

If regulators think the Facebook IPO was a scandal, they should look at the German government bond market...

But what is safe? Is it the AAA or AA rating provided by rating agencies such as S&P and Moody's? Does “safe” equal goodwill bonds issued by sovereign countries such as France, Japan, the United Kingdom or the United States? Perhaps…

The history of crises on financial markets and their amplification during the past 15 years cannot be understood at all if we stick to pure fundamentals. It is necessary to integrate the contagion factor among financial assets and forced selling for commercial, prudential, regulatory or accounting reasons.

Whereas an unprecedented economic crisis has been shaking the world since 2007, the role of economists in this debacle and their inability to anticipate events has never been put into question with this being especially true in France. This is what Laurent Maduit believes in his new book called “The impostors of the economy” which caused some controversy.