In The News

Banking on Neo-Confician Capitalism

Ho Kwon Ping September 5, 2008
Low interest rates and easy loan terms encouraged people and businesses around the globe to live beyond their means. Those loans were based on assets that have since plummeted in value, explains Ho Kwon Ping, chairman of the board of trustees for Singapore Management University. Investment banking and speculation create instant winners and losers, increasing income inequality. He explains that “...

Islamic Bond Decree Cripples Sukuk, Imperils Projects

Haris Anwar September 5, 2008
Strict interpretation of Islamic law discourages interest payments associated with debt. Banks in fast-growing areas of the Middle East, like Dubai, created a special group of bonds – or sukuk market – described as Shariah-compliant, which allow payment through the exchange of assets rather than money. Bonds, as instruments of debt, raise capital and spur development of property, and unlike...

Is America Losing At Globalization?

Daniel Gross September 4, 2008
Countries compete, and in the modern era, economics, education and innovation matter no less than military might. With a strong education program and many life-changing inventions, the US mastered globalization throughout the 20th century. But complacency set in, respect for science and education fell, and the growth that comes from innovation has waned. Other countries have caught up and even...

Carry On China

Nayan Chanda August 30, 2008
The decoupling theory suggests that China, in a league of its own, will expand voraciously on its own terms despite the beleaguered world economy. Although the Beijing Olympics demonstrated a superiority that supports this theory, China remains immutably linked with the world. Though China may want to remain the top global manufacturer, the nation cannot control foreign demand for manufactured...

US and Global Economies Slipping in Unison

Peter S. Goodman August 28, 2008
Reckless real-estate lending and a credit crisis in the US have led its consumers to purchase fewer foods in the global marketplace, which in turn slows foreign investment within US borders, reports Peter Goodman for the New York Times. “Overseas demand for American goods and services was supposed to continue compensating for waning demand in the States,” Goodman writes, reporting on the...

Power-Sector Emissions of China to Top US

Steven Mufson August 28, 2008
China and India view development and growth as a path to eliminating poverty and raising living standards, and that means more power generation in both nations. This year, China’s carbon emissions will surpass those of the US for the first time, reports the Center for Global Development, a think tank based in the US that examines how policies in developed nations impact the developing world....

A Global Approach Is Needed to Beat Inflation

Adam Posen August 26, 2008
Inflation invites discontent, because wages purchase less as the prices of goods and services rise. Central bankers, including those in the US and China, should cooperate in combating inflation, urge Adam Posen and Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in an essay for the Financial Times. By resisting tighter monetary policies and expecting other nations to...