In The News

Renminbi Revaluation Won't Trigger a Shopping Spree

Zhiwu Chen May 12, 2010
Many economists and policy analysts maintain that resolving huge trade imbalances is easy – the Chinese government should just let the renminbi appreciate. But that quick fix won’t do much, contends Zhiwu Chen, professor of finance with the Yale School of Management. Revaluing the renminbi would shift manufacturing to other low-cost Asian nations, without spurring Chinese spending on US goods or...

Debt and Unemployment: Is Global Capitalism Responsible? – Part I

Jeffrey E. Garten April 23, 2010
Global capital markets have been footloose and fancy free since the 1980s, boosted by rapid globalization in transportation, communication and technology industries. Prowling for profits, investors leap boundaries in an instant, manipulating growth, jobs and industries. In this series, two economists explore global capitalism’s growing reach that defies even the world’s greatest economic power....

A Greek Tragedy Haunts the World – Part I

Jonathan Fenby March 1, 2010
The unfolding tragedy in Greece again demonstrates the interdependence of our integrated world – affecting countries near and far. In part I of this two part series, author Jonathan Fenby shows how Greece’s sorry state of affairs has thrown the European project into question. Indeed, Greece’s faltering has exposed some of the fundamental flaws in the EU’s conception. It could never be a true...

The Currency Albatross

Nayan Chanda March 1, 2010
Long-term political stability in China and the political future of the Obama administration both rest on resolving the economic crisis. But these goals may be at odds with one another as seen in the ongoing debate over China's currency, which is estimated to be under-valued by 25-40 percent. The legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party is in part predicated on economic prosperity, something...

The World Economy Has No Easy Way Out Of the Mire

Martin Wolf February 24, 2010
Central banks around the world helped to avert disaster through significant monetary stimulus in the aftermath of the financial meltdown. This stimulus has also aided the rebound in financial markets since the lows of March 2009. But, Martin Wolf rightly asks, what will happen once that stimulus is removed? Or, in other words, will the exit strategy be successful? For Wolf, success would be a...

The Trade Factor

Nayan Chanda January 5, 2010
The precipitous drop in trade last year as a result of the global financial crisis was evidence of the heightened interconnectedness of the world’s major economies. But such interconnectedness was also one reason why trade protectionism – the bogey everyone feared would send the globe into another Great Depression – never rose to a level that threatened a recovery. Indeed, there were many calls...

Mr. Singh Goes to Washington – Part II

David J. Karl November 25, 2009
Discussions between India’s Prime Minister Singh and US President Obama during the former’s visit to Washington this week touched on economic cooperation. What is unlikely to have been discussed, according to David J. Karl, president of the Asia Strategy Initiative, are bi-lateral problems that could rise from India’s growing economic power. In fact, India appears to be witnessing a quiet...