In The News

The Rising Burden of Government Debt

Eswar Prasad, Mengjie Ding December 29, 2010
Nations hiked debt in recent years to escape economic crisis – with advanced economies doing most of the borrowing. Global debt is expected to more than double from $23 trillion in 2007 to $48 trillion in 2015. Emerging markets not only borrow less, but they also contribute more to economic growth, report Eswar Prasad and Mengjie Ding for the Brookings Institution. The pair examines debt not only...

Our Dickensian Economy

Alan S. Blinder December 21, 2010
Britain’s prolific novelist Charles Dickens, 1812 to 1870, spent part of his childhood visiting his father in debtor’s prison, an experience that influenced themes of alienation, ambition and inequality in his work. Economist Alan Blinder, writing for the Wall Street Journal, evokes Dickens, detailing how US government policies promote growing social divides: unemployment concentrated among those...

Brace for Change as the Global Economic Order Crumbles

Jeffrey E. Garten December 13, 2010
Asia increasingly accounts for a greater share of global revenues and financial clout. Yet power in global institutions, like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, is weighted toward the United States and other developed economies. Transition is underway in the global economic order. Jeffrey E. Garten, Yale University international trade and finance professor, warns that adjustment...

Global Bond Rout Deepens on US Fiscal Worries

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard December 10, 2010
The price of borrowing is climbing for the US as investors like China and Russia unload holdings of US treasury bills. The US has massive debt, representing about 10 percent of its GDP, and struggles for fiscal responsibility in a range of government programs, including health-care and retirement for senior citizens. Meanwhile the US president and Congress contemplate renewing across-the-board...

Clinton Urges Cambodia to Strike a Balance With China

John Pomfret November 16, 2010
Recent multi-stop visits to Asia by US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demonstrate newfound US respect for the entire continent. The previous administration’s secretary of state last scheduled meetings in Asia in 2003, reports John Pomfret for the Washington Post. Clinton’s visit was her sixth. Her goal was “to reinforce a central plank of foreign policy in the Obama...

If You Thought the Bank Bailout Was Bad, Wait Until the Mortgage Defaults Hit Home

Morgan Kelly November 16, 2010
Ireland’s decision in September to borrow from the European Central Bank to repay €55 billion in bonds of bankrupt Irish banks calmed markets for the time being. The outcome satisfied large European banks that held the bonds, but left the Irish government with an open-ended commitment to cover losses amounting to more than 20 percent of GDP. Writing for the Irish Times, economist Morgan Kelly...

Debt Plan Ideas Draw Scorn of Liberals and Tea Party

Jackie Calmes November 15, 2010
A debt commission appointed by US President Barack Obama released a deficit-reduction draft plan with a long list of cuts in the federal workforce, defense and entitlement programs – along with simplifying the tax code, lowering tax rates for individuals and corporations while eliminating many tax breaks. The US budget ballooned under Obama's watch: Rescuing the economy from global crisis...