Reviewing politics
and culture since 1913

4 April 2011

How’s this for a visual metaphor?

One for the economist's album.

By David Blanchflower

 

I thought my holiday snap from Australia of a black swan plus audience might be of interest. As keen New Statesman readers will know, a black swan — as made famous by Nassim Nicholas Taleb‘s book — is an unpredictable and rare event.

It was assumed all swans were white until the end of the 17th century, when black swans were discovered in Australia.

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The financial crisis was an event many standard deviations away from what was expected. The Asian economies have remained onlookers . . . so far.

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