“Many of the wars of this century were about oil, but those of the next century will be over water”. So said Ismail Serageldin, a senior environmentalist at the World Bank, in an interview with Newsweek in 1995. This column explores whether nationalising the provision of water can help avoid the sort of desperation that might make this statement come true.

To what extent has financial nationalism changed banks' lending behaviour in the aftermath of the global crisis? The authors of CEPR DP8404 find much evidence that financial protectionism has morphed the lending practices of foreign banks in Britain since 2008. But--unexpectedly--they also find that British banks nationalised during the crisis changed their lending practices in no substantive way.

This column warns against bank nationalisation without state control. Bankers will not hesitate to enrich themselves at the expense of the public good if they have the opportunity.

The rising price of oil has been accompanied by nationalisations of oil assets, and the relationship is no mere coincidence. Recent research shows that higher oil prices trigger expropriations, particularly in countries with weak political institutions.