In The News

“Brexit” Could Send Shock Waves Across US and Global Economy

Ylan Q. Mui June 22, 2016
The United States is the biggest foreign investor in the United Kingdom, and US firms regard the nation as a base for trading with the rest of the European Union. The US and the UK each have about a half trillion dollars’ worth of foreign direct investment and employ about a million workers in the other. “The heavy-equipment giant Caterpillar exemplifies the dilemma facing American businesses in...

Cheap Money Helped Inflate Energy Balloon

Rani Molla and Lisa Abramowicz June 20, 2016
The loose monetary policy applied by the US Federal Reserve, crafted to stimulate the economy after the 2007-2008 global debt crisis, may have also contributed to the shale oil boom and recent bust. The policy of reduced rates and borrowing costs may have encouraged speculative behavior as investors searched for high yields. “The increase in debt went hand in hand with a drastic increase in U.S....

The Financial Plan for “Brexit”? Cross Your Fingers

Peter S. Goodman June 17, 2016
The financial industry is unnerved by polls before the June 23 referendum in Britain on sticking with or leaving the European Union suggesting momentum favors exit. “Like local responders readying sandbags as a hurricane menaces their shores, financial industry overseers have been quietly drawing up contingency plans while surveying the expensive havoc a so-called Brexit is already wreaking,”...

Post-Withdrawal Britain: Why the Swiss Model Wouldn't Work for the UK

Christian Teevs June 14, 2016
British voters favoring leaving the European Union suggest that the country’s status could be similar to that of Norway and Switzerland. But the United Kingdom, with a population of 65 million, is not Norway or Switzerland, with 5.5 million and 8.5 million people, respectively. To access the EU market, the British would likely join the European Economic Area, like Norway, and could not escape...

Mars May Be Banned From Selling M&M’s in Sweden

Oliver Nieburg June 10, 2016
Trademarks, the exclusive right to names and logos, signal consistency for consumers and markets. “A word or a combination of words, letters, and numerals can perfectly constitute a trademark,” explains the World Intellectual Property Organization. “But trademarks may also consist of drawings, symbols, three-dimensional features such as the shape and packaging of goods, non-visible signs such as...

The Rise of Manufacturing Marks the Fall of Globalization

Rebecca Keller June 10, 2016
The many parts of complex machinery are sourced for now from multiple countries. “Over the past century, finished products made in a single country have become increasingly hard to find as globalization – weighted a term as it is – has stretched supply chains to the ends of the Earth,” writes Rebecca Keller for Stratfor. She points out that automation, robotics and computerization will gradually...

Cheap Money Helped Inflate Energy Balloon

Rani Molla and Lisa Abramowicz June 7, 2016
An easy monetary policy applied by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks since 2008 to stimulate the economy after the global debt crisis may have contributed to the shale oil boom and bust. The reduced interest rates and borrowing costs may have encouraged speculative behavior among investors searching for high yields. “The increase in debt went hand in hand with a drastic increase in U...