In The News

Quartz: US Sets Bad Example on Inequality

Eshe Nelson December 15, 2017
Despite ample warnings, including the book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Thomas Piketty, inequality continues to rise in most parts of the world: the top 10 percent in the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, India and the Middle East own about half the wealth. More than 100 researchers from 70 nations monitor the dangers through the World Inequality Lab, based at the Paris...

The New York Times: When Climate Change Becomes a Credit Problem

Jeff Nesbit December 13, 2017
This year has shown that disasters linked with climate change carry enormous economic costs, and communities that ignore the risks of climate change can expect increased upfront borrowing costs. “In a welcome but long overdue development, one of the world’s leading credit-rating agencies, Moody’s Investors Service, announced recently that it would give more weight to climate change risks in...

The Statesman: The Cryptocurrency Conundrum

Vasu Garg December 11, 2017
Investors are contributing to Bitcoin’s rapid rise. Bitcoin and Ethereum are among 900 digital currencies based on algorithms issued by private creators rather than governments. Such currencies and their software offer blockchain capabilities. “The safety, integrity and balance of ledgers within cryptocurrency systems is maintained by a community of parties referred to as miners,” Vasu Garg...

El País: Brussels Pushes for European Version of IMF

Claudi Pérez December 6, 2017
The European Union is proposing its own version of a bailout fund modeled after the International Monetary Fund. “With initial firepower of €500 billion, which could be boosted up to a further 20%, the new European Monetary Fund will bail out member states in exchange for reforms, as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has done in the past with Greece, Ireland and Portugal,” reports El País....

The Wall Street Journal: US Tax Overhaul Raises Alarms Among Foreign Executives

Robert Wall, Nina Trentmann and Natalia Drozdiak December 1, 2017
US proposals to cut taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals are troubling executives of foreign firms. The United States is the world’s largest market for many companies and tax changes can affect global profits, explains a team of writers for the Wall Street Journal. Reduced taxes could mean reduced government revenues and increased uncertainty that slow consumer spending. Some...

Project Syndicate: America’s Supply-Side Scam

Stephen S. Roach November 28, 2017
A US tax proposal delivers big tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens. US companies already pay a low effective corporate tax rate. US corporations already rank high in competitiveness. Stephen S. Roach – author, senior lecturer at Yale University and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia – argues the country cannot afford tax cuts that will expand the country’s large deficit. A low savings rate...

Caixin: China to Roll Out Red Carpet for Foreign Financial Firms

Peng Qinqin, Wu Hongyuran, Zhang Yu, Yang Qiaoling and Han Wei November 21, 2017
China may do more to open its financial industry to foreign investors, lifting ownership caps for banks as well as securities, funds, and futures industries, according to a team from Caixin. “Sixteen years after China agreed to liberalize foreign access to its financial sector as part of its World Trade Organization accession commitments, overseas investors still complain about barriers...