In The News

How to Avert Another Debt-Ceiling Crisis

James Leitner, Ian Shapiro November 15, 2013
The United States borrows 46 cents for every dollar it spends, and despite congressional approval of the expenditures, a few members cling to a self-imposed debt ceiling, insisting that partial default may bring new discipline and spending priorities. “Had the debt ceiling been breached, the damage to the U.S. and world economies could have been measured in trillions of dollars,” write James...

The Perils of Falling Inflation

November 12, 2013
Central banks are national institutions that regulate currency and monetary policy. Typically, they are on watch against excessive inflation which can erode currency values. But low inflation that transforms into deflation may be a bigger problem. “As Japan’s experience shows, deflation is both deeply damaging and hard to escape in weak economies with high debts,” warns the Economist. “Since...

Economic Doghouse: Complaints About German Exports Unfounded

Alexander Jung, Christian Reiermann, Gregor Peter Schmitz November 6, 2013
One country’s success with exports should generate appreciation for competition and not envy, suggests a German publication. The US Department of Treasury released a report that notes “Germany’s anemic pace of domestic demand growth and dependence on exports have hampered rebalancing at a time when many other euro area countries have been under severe pressure to curb demand and compress imports...

Which Asian Century?

Richard N. Haass October 30, 2013
Asia has the population and economic potential to dominate the 21st century. Yet Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, points out that Asia confronts two paths – continuing economic growth while avoiding conflict or increasing tensions. Haass suggests that Europe during the 20th century offers a model: During the first half, the continent engaged in two world wars with...

Shut and Down

Nayan Chanda October 25, 2013
Without good national governance, globalization could go belly up, warns Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal in his column for Businessworld. Over the protests of a few legislators, the US Congress did end a partial government shutdown and also lifted an artificial debt ceiling that allowed borrowing and payments to continue. “By pushing the US to the edge of a default and threatening the global...

The Gated Globe

Greg Ip October 17, 2013
After the 2008 global economic crisis, leaders vowed to avoid protectionism, but they also took steps to avoid globalization’s negatives. “After two decades in which people, capital and goods were moving ever more freely across borders, walls have been going up, albeit ones with gates,” writes Greg Ip in a series for the Economist. “Governments increasingly pick and choose whom they trade with,...

World Leaders Press the US on Fiscal Crisis

Annie Lowrey, Nathaniel Popper October 15, 2013
Leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund warn that US failure to raise a debt ceiling and make payments on its debt will disrupt a global economic recovery underway since 2009. “Participants at the meetings remained on edge, given the gravity of the threat,” report Annie Lowrey and Nathaniel Popper for in the New York Times. The bankers and economists can only speculate about...