In The News

William Wallis March 21, 2013
Nations are competitors, regardless of size, location or wealth. Lamido Sanusi, Nigeria’s central bank governor, offered that reminder to fellow Africans about China and its potential to flood the continent with low-cost goods and overwhelm a struggling manufacturing industry. “Trade between China and Africa was worth more than $200bn in 2012, 20 times what it was in 2000 when Beijing committed...
Randall Hackley March 21, 2013
Water is a necessity, but one that’s taken for granted. Randall Hackley, writing for Bloomberg about World Water Day, questions why the globe has 6 billion mobile phones when one out of three people do not have a toilet, and one out of seven lack access to safe drinking water. Water sanitation is a major contributing factor to high child mortality rates; more people die from sanitation-related...
Börje Ljunggren March 20, 2013
China’s new president is entering office with more charisma and more authority than has been credited to previous leaders. Xi Jinping is ambitious for big reforms, but must deal with corruption, environmental devastation and an unwieldy bureaucracy that’s mostly lacking vision and set on maintaining the status quo. Xi wants to continue economic reforms that would make China a respected,...
Eric Reguly March 18, 2013
Cyprus, with a population just over 1 million, is posing big challenges to global financial markets. The government failed to pass a €10-billion package that would have taxed bank deposits to pay for the rescue – 6.75 percent for deposits less than €100,000, 9.9 percent for those with more. “None of the euro zone’s sovereign and bank bailouts, from Ireland to Greece, has insisted that bank...
Will Hickey March 15, 2013
Governments have long provided subsidies, direct and indirect, on fuels for both consumers and producers. Providing subsidies on fossil fuels is costly in terms of public health and climate change. In 2009, G20 leaders agreed that subsidies should be curtailed, but Asian countries continue to fund them to support economic growth. Subsidies for consumers lead to waste, traffic and pollution. Less...
Joshua Kurlantzick March 11, 2013
Despite the international outlook of the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies – the US and China – Joshua Kurlantzick argues that there is a new trend of deglobalization. The precarious state of the world economy is contributing to the prominence of national boundaries in shaping economic policies. Foreign investment has dried up as national legislatures reject takeovers or funding for...
John O'Donnell March 6, 2013
Europeans are impatient with the pace of economic recovery. The European Union surprised the financial industry by imposing a cap on bonuses for banks’ senior managers and traders, and the mood was also reflected by Swiss voters who approved of shareholders having a say on board and executive salaries. The plan is to reduce excessive pay and end the practice of rewards for crisis. How many...