Cowley: Squirrel versus woodpigeon

Long the Western bond markets…for the time being

As I write there is titanic battle occurring outside my window. A squirrel is wrestling a woodpigeon for the piece of stale bread that I placed on the lawn a few moments previously. My money was on the squirrel but it turned out I was wrong - the woodpigeon won.

It reminds me that, in moments of desperation, one's base instincts take over. When resources are limited then you are more than likely to take on your rival for whatever you can get. Inevitably, the comparisons of competition make you think about how nature is mirrored in economics; the Darwinian battle for supremacy is paralleled in the combatant nature of free market economics. All things being equal, and without the imposition of false advantage, when food or resources are scarce they have a tendency to go to fittest and most deserving. At least that's what the text books tell u...