In The News

Bloomberg: Can China Really Rein in Credit?

Michael Pettis June 19, 2017
China's regulators and central bankers are trying to control the country’s debt and reduce associated risks, and in turn this may reduce economic growth. explains Michael Pettis, finance professor, in an opinion essay for Bloomberg: “there's a big difference between China's sustainable growth rate, based on rising demand driven by household consumption and productive investment,...

The Guardian: Venezuela Plan to Rewrite Constitution Branded a Coup by Former Regional Allies

Jonathan Watts and Virginia López May 3, 2017
Venezuela has ample oil reserves and other natural resources, but its citizens must contend with unemployment, inflation, corruption and negative growth. Foreign investors and neighboring states are alarmed as protests and riots over food shortages overwhelm the country. The opposition won control of the national assembly by a large margin in 2015, but President Nicholás Maduro plans to revise...

Barron’s: Asia’s Biggest Central Banks Diverge

William Pesek March 21, 2017
The People’s Bank of China, in line with the US Federal Reserve’s March 15th decision, recently increased some interest rates while the Bank of Japan responded by maintaining its negative interest rate target. Divergence in monetary policy “adds a new element of market uncertainty into 2017,” writes William Pesek for Barron’s. The governor of the People’s Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, instituted...

Financial Times: Sharp Drop in US Emissions Keeps Global Levels Flat

Pilita Clark March 18, 2017
The world has kept emissions that cause climate change in check for the third year in a row during a period when the prices of fossil fuels were low and global economic growth averaged about 3 percent per year. Natural gas has quickly replaced coal as an energy source, seven nuclear power plants went on line in China and renewable energies are becoming more affordable. The trends suggest “a shift...

Brookings Institution: Global Identity for City Visibility

Greg Clark February 9, 2017
In an age when many nations are leaning toward isolationism, some cities are bucking the trend and becoming centers of global business, research, and higher education. Stockholm, San Diego and Barcelona in particular are three cities that exemplify successfully creating a “global identity,” notes Greg Clark for the Brookings Institution. By diversifying their economy, these cities have avoided...

Asia Sentinel: Trouble in the Air

Neeta Lal February 7, 2017
Air quality is so poor in Delhi, the fifth largest metropolitan area in the world, that one official has described the city as a “toxic gas chamber.” Writing for Asia Sentinel, Neeta Lal explains that “The city’s thick layer of smog is no longer merely an inconvenience to residents or a danger to asthmatics.” Instead, the smog is harming health for all residents and economic investments. “A...

Chinese Are Celebrating Lunar New Year by Escaping China

Dong Lyu and Bruce Einhorn January 27, 2017
More than 6 million passengers are flying out of China during the weeklong holiday that begins January 28, mostly to nearby Asian countries like Japan and Thailand. Thousands of expatriates also travel to the country for celebrations of the traditional Lunar New Year with family. The vast majority, however, of the 414 million on the move – equivalent to the entire European Union – will travel...