In The News

Japan's Doing Better Than You Think

Philip Bowring December 5, 2008
Financial analysts in the West often point to Japan as an example of what not to do during an economic downturn. “[A]voidance of the Japan experience with deflation is often given as a reason for the United States, the United Kingdom and the Eurozone as a whole (trying to drag Germany with it) to justify almost any level of bailout-outs and fiscal stimulus to revive their economies,” explains...

The Local Syndrome

Nayan Chanda December 3, 2008
The global economy is in a shambles, due to a credit crunch, uncertain values of homes and other assets, and complex loan packages that few people understand. US President George Bush convened a meeting of 20 major economies and acknowledged that emerging economies like China, India and Brazil deserve a role in any institutions that monitor the global economy, that protectionism and nationalism...

India Calling

Anand Giridharadas December 2, 2008
Immigrants tend to flow from poorer nations to wealthier ones, but on second thought, perhaps attitudes are more attractive than wealth. Indians moved to the West, escaping India’s constraints in the 1970s. But India’s economy has since enjoyed ample growth and its politicians matured, enacting policies that focused on privatization, liberalization and globalization. In recent years, the...

The Forgotten Virtues of Free Trade

Frank Trentmann December 1, 2008
As an economic recession sweeps the world, the countries that have benefited most from free trade have now become wary. “Free trade is far from perfect, but the alternatives are worse,” insists Frank Trentmann, professor of history, in an essay for Project Syndicate. “Protectionism is bad for wealth, bad for democracy, and bad for peace.” Nations may attempt to protect a few select industries,...

World Confronts a Choice Between Chaos and Order

Philip Stephens November 27, 2008
US President-elect Barack Obama will enter office in January with a host of priorities that require immediate action, as well as concern that US influence is on the wane with new multilateralism unfolding. “More likely, the trend will be towards fragmentation and instability as the new powers take what they want from the existing order while preserving a freedom of manoeuvre outside it,” writes...

Obama’s Global Tryst

Nayan Chanda November 24, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama enters office as the globe confronts grave economic crisis. He must continue supporting free trade, but at the same time assist hundreds of thousands of Americans who struggle with job loss, falling home prices and foreclosures, and immense economic uncertainty about health care, energy and other resources. At the same time, Obama must manage two wars, one he promised...

The Limits of Growth – Part II

Chandran Nair November 24, 2008
Governments pursue rapid growth as a path to prosperity, and policymakers generally depend on markets to reveal and control problems. In the second of this two-part YaleGlobal series on the limits to growth, Chandran Nair, founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, points to parallels between the global economic crisis and climate change. Both challenges are rooted in the pursuit of excessive...