How bean counters beat terrorists

Global Financial Warriors, by John B Taylor, Norton, €26.45.

As combat operations in Iraq and the Helmand Province grind on, we’re reminded that modern warfare is waged on more than one battlefield.

Taylor, a former economics professor at Stanford, was Under Secretary at the US Treasury Department when 9/11 occurred. He and his colleagues were on a diplomatic mission to Japan when the news broke, news that would transform their role in US ...