In The News

Capitalism as Victim of Covid-19? Salon

Matthew Rozsa June 18, 2020
The pandemic and climate change demonstrate that survival depends on the ability to learn while relying on best evidence. Political leaders who downplay or deny the consequences of Covid-19 and climate change – trying to protect economies for the short term, rejecting early warnings and refusing to adapt – actually risk more economic damage. Such disasters also show that the free-market...

Crash in US Dollar Coming: Bloomberg

Stephen Roach June 9, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic may end the US dollar’s status as primary reserve currency, warns Yale economist Stephen Roach. The pandemic and high unemployment pressure US living standards and spending even as world leaders question US leadership and notions of exceptionalism. Current account deficits since 1982, a recent shortfall in domestic US savings and fast-expanding government budget deficits...

Covid-19 and Green Recovery? Euronews

Darren McCaffrey May 27, 2020
Economic shutdowns due to Covid-19 demonstrate a quieter world with cleaner air, wiht carbon emissions reduced by more than 8 percent between January and April from the same period in 2019. “This is massively significant: 8 per cent is roughly half of what America emits in an entire year and would be the biggest drop since the Second World War,” writes Darren McCaffrey for Euronews. For the world...

Covid-19 Data Suppression? Florida Today

Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon May 20, 2020
Any attempt to suppress reports of Covid-19 cases by jurisdictions hoping to protect their tourism industry is a nightmare for the world. Data transparency is key in containing the pandemic, especially as nations strive to reopen their economies. Florida removed control of a public dashboard on Covid19 data from the geographic information system manager who developed the website for the Florida...

Covid-19 Stimulus: South China Morning Post

Nicholas Spiro May 15, 2020
Central banks around the globe organize massive stimulus programs from central banks, but these are not without risk. By reducing interest rates and rapidly investing in a range of assets to prop up prices, central bankers hope to save jobs and prevent a long economic depression. Governments already holding heavy debt extend rescues to a range of businesses, including some that would have failed...

US Colleges’ International Enrollment: Boston Globe

Deirdre Fernandes May 14, 2020
US colleges anticipate a steep drop in enrollment of international students due to the Covid-19 pandemic, travel uncertainty, global recession and job losses, anti-immigrant sentiment and visa policies. About 90 percent of US colleges and universities anticipate a decline in international students and a significant drop in revenues, reports a Institute of International Education survey. “Many...

German Court Ruling on ECB Asset Purchases: FT

Martin Wolf May 13, 2020
The German constitutional court ruled against the European Central Bank’s public sector purchase program, launched in 2015. Martin Wolf argues for the Financial Times that the move contributes to EU disintegration: “It is an attack on basic economics, the central bank’s integrity, its independence and the legal order of the EU…. The court “did not argue that the ECB had improperly engaged in...