The first working week of the new decade has been characterised by a curious mix of cold and hot air. The cold air has been blowing out of the Arctic and Siberia; the hot air has been blowing out of the mouths of senior businessmen. The first has turned out to be surprisingly warming. The second, utterly chilling.
The snow and ice that have hit Europe and the US are popularly believed to be a bad thing for the economy. Workers can't get to work or have to stay at home to look after children because lily-livered head teachers have decided icy playgrounds are dangerous. Those few who turn up to work spend hours idly gazing out of the window at the snow wondering how they are going to get home.
In fact, there is no evidence that cold weather costs the economy anything at all. A report last week from the Centre for Economics and Business Research says the effect is negligible: any lost productivity quickly gets made up, especially in an economy that is not running at full capacity.