In The News

Fort McMurray Blaze Shows What “the Economy” Is Really About

Todd Hirsch May 6, 2016
Fort McMurray, built around Canada’s oil sands industry, is engulfed by wildfires, prompting evacuation of the almost 90,000 residents. Thousands of homes were destroyed with damages already estimated at near $1 billion. The tragedy, suggests economist Todd Hirsch, offers a reminder on social priorities. “The first part of the word ‘economics’ is derived from the ancient Greek word oikos, which...

The State of the United States

Richard N. Haass March 28, 2016
The mood of US electorate during the presidential primary season is described as anxious and angry over outsourcing and trade deals, a decline in good jobs, stagnant wages, inequality and polarized politics that prevents good governance. News media tend to focus on negative reports, and the members of public rely on programs and publications that reinforce opinions already held. “An America that...

A Flat World Gets Bumpy With Globalization in Retreat

David Dapice March 24, 2016
Uncertainty and instability threaten the global economy, and monetary stimulus by the central banks, including negative rates, is not delivering growth or confidence. So far, the United States is alone in breaking away from the pack to engage in monetary tightening and gradually lifting interest rates. China employs strict controls to prevent businesses and savers from sending cash outside the...

Central Banks Are Already Doing the Unthinkable - You Just Don't Know It

Mehreen Khan March 21, 2016
International Monetary Fund staff have called the past eight years an “era of extraordinary monetary policy,” with central banks applying more than 600 interest-rate cuts since 2008. “But the new wave of policy accommodation has ushered in fresh panic that monetary policy is suddenly subject to dwindling returns,” explains Mehreen Khan for the Telegraph. The focus on debt and limited spending...

The World Is Stuck With Persistent Stagnation

Stephen Roach March 3, 2016
Economists expect the world economy to be more resilient than any of its parts, with recessions typically affecting only a few of the 200 economies at a time. Yet the world is gradually following the pattern of Japan, the world’s third largest economy, in struggling with persistent stagnation, explains economist and Yale faculty member Stephen Roach. For economists, the term “secular” describes...

Russia: Only Tactical Success in the Middle East

Thomas Graham March 1, 2016
Despite an economic downturn and depressed oil prices, Russia wrested control in eastern Ukraine and Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking a gamble “that Europe would eventually seize an offer of cooperation in Syria to constrict the migrant flow and contain the terrorist threat and that such cooperation would sap Europe’s aversion to Russian behavior in Ukraine, leading to a decision...

Africa’s Success Story

John Feffer February 5, 2016
Though Botswana relied almost exclusively on its diamond wealth, its economy has grown steadily since 1966, rivaling China and South Korea’s growth rates. Good governance allowed Botswana to avoid the resource curse that afflicted many of its neighbors. Botswana’s diamond-producing industry is lucrative and provides well-paying, often unionized jobs to locals. Recently, diamond companies have...