In The News

SEC Seeks Offshore Cash Disclosure

Helen Thomas September 26, 2011
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is “pushing” companies to disclose to investors their offshore cash holdings, reports Helen Thomas for the Financial Times. Such disclosures could “be relevant and material to understanding a company’s liquidity,” Thomas adds. US regulations require companies to pay taxes of up to 35 percent on income earned overseas and repatriated to the US, providing...

The G-20 Must Get Serious

Gordon Brown, Felipe Gonzalez and Ernesto Zedillo September 23, 2011
World leaders could do more to pursue coordinated action on the global economy, contend former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo in an opinion essay for the International Herald Tribune. Failure to follow up on pledges to strengthen global financial regulation, find agreement on the delayed World Trade...

Going... Going... Greece on the Brink

Maria Margaronis September 22, 2011
The social turmoil, bitterness and political infighting that accompany Greece’s debt crisis could offer a preview for other nations that fail to practice fiscal discipline. In exchange for loans, Greece’s creditors demand that the government cut spending, lay off public employees, reduce entitlements and raise taxes. A series of quick fixes and delays have given savviest creditors time to prepare...

China Plays Hard Ball

François Godement September 19, 2011
European nations deep in debt are playing a dangerous game with China by teasing global markets. Neither borrowers nor would-be rescuers offer transparency about how much European debt China holds. Sensing that China is increasingly the only available willing buyer, leaders like Wen Jiabao allude to conditional lending, urging an end to anti-dumping charges or allowing asset sales that benefit...

A World Without Borders Makes Economic Sense

Michael A. Clemens September 16, 2011
Many of the world’s economies are still suffering due to the global economic crisis, and policymakers search for an elusive magic bullet. Michael A Clemens, writing for the Guardian, offers one possibility: increasing international migration. He describes the manmade barriers to economic mobility as the “single-biggest drag on the beleaguered economy,” and claims that even minor relaxation of...

Bridges to Somewhere

Justin Yifu Lin September 15, 2011
Following the financial crisis of 2008, the developed world still faces weak growth prospects and dim employment forecasts, and leaders in the US and Europe urge debt reduction. In this Foreign Policy article, Justin Yifu Lin of the World Bank makes a strong case for global infrastructure initiative, encouraging developed countries to invest billions of dollars on infrastructure projects at home...

Portugal’s Jobless Graduates Flee to Africa and Brazil

Lucy Ash September 13, 2011
Despite troubled histories, colonial powers and their former colonies have maintained close relations, largely due to shared languages. This often resulted in what’s been called “brain drain,” the large-scale immigration of professionals from the former colonies to the former colonial powers in search of economic opportunity. Lucy Ash of BBC News describes a reversal in the traditional migration...