In The News

How Climate Change Will Destroy Your Country's Credit Rating

Todd Woody May 27, 2014
It is a bitter irony that rising seas, severe drought and violent storms associated with climate change will slam the world’s poorest nations that consume the least energy per capita. Changing weather patterns will also hit national credit ratings, raising borrowing costs for investment in infrastructure like dams or post-disaster rebuilding, notes a report from Standard & Poor’s. “S&P...

IT-Savvy Army Takes Modi’s Campaign to New Levels

Victor Mallet May 19, 2014
Candidates who gain the early support of young workers in the IT and finance industries can distribute their messages far and wide. High-tech projectors and satellite dishes allowed Narendra Modi, now India’s prime minister-designate, to address more than 100 simultaneous meetings each night. “The nationwide deployment of 10-foot high holograms of Mr Modi – requiring scores of shipping containers...

The West’s Financial Arsenal

Harold James April 23, 2014
After Russia’s annexation of Crimea, pro-Russian militants continue efforts to occupy public buildings in Eastern Ukraine and destabilize an interim government. “Putin is attempting to boost Russia’s appeal by doubling Crimeans’ pensions, boosting the salaries of the region’s 200,000 civil servants, and constructing large, Sochi-style infrastructure,” explains history professor Harold James for...

Walgreens Urged to Leave US to Gain Tax Benefit

Ed Hammond April 15, 2014
A small group that owns shares of the largest pharmacy chain retailer in the United States wants Walgreens to relocate to Europe: “investors owning close to 5 per cent of Walgreens’ shares lobbied the company’s management to use its $16bn takeover of Swiss-based Alliance Boots to re-domicile its tax base,” reports Ed Hammond for the Financial Times. “The move, known as an inversion, would...

Self-Insurance or Self-Destruction?

Gene Frieda April 7, 2014
The US Federal Reserve is gradually pulling back after months of purchasing bonds to inject liquidity into global markets. As liquidity shifts toward developed economies, the foreign reserves of emerging economies may not be enough to protect those financial systems, argues global strategist Gene Frieda for Project Syndicate: “In order to break the destabilizing cycle of short-term capital flows...

Ukraine: Goodbye Cold War, Hello Globalized Economy

Remi Piet March 18, 2014
As Russia tries to claim Crimea from Ukraine and influence politics of neighboring states, other countries are uncertain about how to proceed – and just how effective economic sanctions might be. Russia is a leading producer of oil and natural gas, but is also over-reliant on those revenues. Another unknown for Russia and supporters is just how long global markets will tolerate endorsement of...

Emerge, Splurge, Purge

March 7, 2014
Multinational makers of phones, cars, beverages, and household products of all types have long eyed the emerging markets – the “geography seduced everyone,” suggests the Economist. Then the US Federal Reserve announced in mid-2013 that it would reduce bond purchases. Currencies of emerging economies in India, Turkey and South Africa fell in value along with a drop in consumer demand. The...