In The News

Germany and California: Parallel Crises in Need of Parallel Remedies

Robert Levine July 10, 2003
Although Germany and California represent different levels of government, both are facing similar severe economic and political crises. The economic problems for both stem from the collapse of the booming information technology sector. Global trade and investment opportunities connected the information technology sectors in Germany and California, and the collapse of the IT sector in California...

The Homes of Argentines Are at Risk in I.M.F. Talks

Larry Rohter June 23, 2003
In an echo of the harsh economic policies prescribed by the IMF in Southeast Asia after the 1997 Asian Crisis the organization is asking the crisis-ridden Argentina to adopt severe belt-tightening measures. For homeowners across Argentina, the prescribed cure for financial crisis may prove more devastating than the economic disease. In a country still reeling from months of economic chaos, the...

Unreformed, Unrefined, Unrepentant

June 20, 2003
The 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis seriously disrupted many economies in the Asia-Pacific region and impeded global economic growth. Governments and international institutions have since tried to draw lessons from that nightmare. In this article in The Economist, the author says that there is still much to be learned and dealt with, including Thailand's current problems with its taxation...

Indonesia Mulls Euro as Trade Currency

Shoeb Kagda April 22, 2003
With as much as 15% of Bank Indonesia's reserves already held in Euros, the European Union's currency could in future take a dominant role in Indonesia's international trade. A senior government official confirmed that Indonesia was considering making the switch from US dollars to the Euro after the idea was proposed by the country's national oil company. Concerns about a...

A War Against Eurocrats

Ranvir Nayar April 3, 2003
This article from Outlook India suggests that one of the Bush administration’s objectives in the war on Iraq may be to maintain the dominance of the US dollar in the global economy. The Euro in recent years has been an attractive alternative to the US dollar for many countries around the world, including oil producing countries in the Middle East. Gaining control over Iraq’s oil fields would...

An Idea that Gained Currency but Lost Clarity

James Tobin September 11, 2001
James Tobin, the economist from whom the ‘Tobin tax’ takes its name, explains his reasons for a tax on currency speculation and what problems he originally intended the tax to solve. The tax he proposed was meant to be levied on all currency transactions. The cost of paying the tax would reduce de-stabilizing speculation and also give national central banks enough space to control their short-...