In The News

China Expresses Anger at G7 Statement on East, South China Seas

April 12, 2016
G7 foreign ministers issued a joint statement calling on countries to avoid “intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions" in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. The statement also asks countries to refrain from land reclamation activities. The statement did not mention China by name, but the country has engaged in heavy construction to expand islands and patrols areas...

Obama Calls for International Tax Reform Amid Panama Papers Revelations

Rupert Neate and David Smith April 6, 2016
Governments struggle to provide basic services as wealthiest citizens find ways, legal and illegal, to evade taxes. The release of more than 11 million files, known as the Panama Papers, from the law firm Mossack Fonseca detail methods for reducing taxes: shell companies, minimal disclosure requirements, property investments, trust funds and outright fraud. Repercussions of the massive leak are...

Economic Ramifications of Remittances-for-Border Wall Proposal

Susanna Kim April 5, 2016
A US presidential candidate has proposed blocking workers from sending remittances to their families and canceling visas to force Mexico to build a wall along the shared border. Policy analysts quickly responded that a plan to block such money transfers would harm both economies and may violate laws. Aaron Klein, Brookings Institution fellow, in a report by Susanna Kim for ABC News, explained...

Debunking America’s Populist Narrative

J. Bradford DeLong April 5, 2016
As US voters worry stagnant wages, the availability of good jobs, and the nation’s ability to compete, economist J. Bradford DeLong suggests that candidates and voters may be going after the wrong targets. “The reason that incomes have stagnated is that American politicians have failed to implement policies to manage globalization’s effects,” he writes for Project Syndicate. US candidates have...

China, Russia Seek to Profit as the EU Beacon of Democracy Goes Dim

Humphrey Hawksley April 5, 2016
“Not long ago the European Union stood as an unassailable beacon, a model for how trade and shared values could override historical hatreds and how a disparate collection of nations could work together under a single set of political values,” argues Humphrey Hawksley, BBC correspondent, in this YaleGlobal esssay. The EU is now vulnerable to the charms – and illusions – of authoritarian order....

Modi’s Middle East Outreach

Harsh V. Pant March 31, 2016
Investing and trading in the Middle East carry high risk due to difficult political transitions and ongoing conflicts. Like other major economies, India leverages economic clout for strategic purposes, especially to isolate rival Pakistan’s military and intelligence capabilities. India, soon to be the world’s most populous nation, has a minority Muslim population that’s larger than Pakistan’s....

The State of the United States

Richard N. Haass March 28, 2016
The mood of US electorate during the presidential primary season is described as anxious and angry over outsourcing and trade deals, a decline in good jobs, stagnant wages, inequality and polarized politics that prevents good governance. News media tend to focus on negative reports, and the members of public rely on programs and publications that reinforce opinions already held. “An America that...