In The News

Containing China’s Slowdown

Lee Jong-Wha September 23, 2015
China’s economy is slowing its fast pace of growth. This year’s rate is projected at 6.3 percent. Lee Jong-Wha, an economics professor writing for Project Syndicate, points to weak domestic activity and external demand, falling fertility rates and an aging population, competition on wages from other nations, and a struggle to make productivity gains with technology. He suggests that China has...

Interest Rate Rise: Turning Point Looms for US Debt Binge

Eric Platt September 9, 2015
The world has become accustomed to low-cost loans since late 2007 and many dread a hike in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve. Low interest rates encouraged corporate borrowing and speculation, weakening some firms. “Companies have had easy access to cash to write cheques for multibillion-dollar takeovers, to fund buybacks and dividend strategies – all welcomed by investors as share prices...

Globalization at Warp Speed

Robert J. Samuelson September 7, 2015
Globalization thrives in financial markets and may even control them. Much focus is on the world’s fastest-growing economies. For example, China’s consumes near half of the world’s aluminum, copper, lead, nickel and zinc, up from 13 percent in 2000, writes economist Robert J. Samuelson for the Washington Post. Reduced demand for oil due to slowed growth in China and an increased US supply has...

View on China’s Meltdown: The End of a Flawed Globalization

September 4, 2015
The stock market declines in China herald a new era with fewer imbalances. The economic slowdown was expected and may signal other countries are developing and restoring capabilities to manufacture. US consumers have eased spending and can no longer be depended on to snap up exports from around the globe. China oversaw a huge economic expansion, lifting many from poverty. The government invested...

IMF to the Aid of Ukraine: Well-Intended, But Misguided

David R. Cameron September 3, 2015
Ukraine, battling separatists and demands for autonomy in its eastern regions, confronts a debt crisis. The International Monetary Fund approved $17.5 billion over four years and also called for another debt operation. After five months of negotiations, Ukraine received another $15.3 billion, including a 20 percent “haircut” in the $18 billion of bonds held by the private creditors. More than...

Worried About China? Keep Calm as Markets Return to Earth

David Dapice September 1, 2015
A long anticipated slowdown in China’s growth prompted a downturn in stock prices and firm government interventions. The percentage of foreign investors in Chinese stocks are low, but the abrupt moves unnerved investors around the globe. Market prices fell in Europe, the United States, Japan and the many countries closely linked to China’s economy. China has long been regarded as the world’s...

Central Bank Interventions: Drunks Searching by the Light

Chan Akya August 28, 2015
Central banks may have gone too far in defying market forces with quantitative easing, stimulus spending and increased liquidity, argues Chan Akya for Asia Times. Loose monetary policy kept many in high-risk assets too long. Some investments are in bubble territory: “With the primary purpose of quantitative easing namely to kick start the economy absolutely failing to deliver its intended results...