Interview - Douglas McWilliams, CEBR: Critique of a crisis

Douglas McWilliams, chief executive officer at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, is paid to make judgements on the economy. Andrew Tjaardstra sought his expert verdict on the current turbulence and asked him some fundamental questions about capitalism.

Armed with Roger Bootle's The Trouble with Markets, Saving Capitalism from Itself, I feel confident taking on the might of McWilliams' first-rate mind. I am versed with knowledge about surpluses in China, monetary policy and Bootle's assertion: "The crude model of the market system has profit as the driver but, in practice, even if profit is the ultimate motivation, it is probably best not to aim for it directly. Rather like happiness, it is most likely to emerge as the by-product of pursuing