In The News

Reuters: Closer Hong Kong, China Ties Create Corporate Governance Challenges

Michelle Price July 4, 2017
The long-term sustainability of “two systems” for one country – China and Hong Kong – was always in question, especially as the two markets have increasingly integrated. A rout in small-cap stocks may signal concerns about financial regulatoin, explains Michelle Price for Reuters. “The sell-off has raised questions over Hong Kong's ability to enforce its rules, as the territory's...

Bloomberg: Britain’s Financial Power Is Already Seeping Away

Alessandro Speciale, Gavin Finch and Steven Arons June 26, 2017
The writing is on the wall for Great Britain as banking officials increasingly question London’s ability to endure as a global banking center after British citizens demonstrated isolationist tendencies by voting to exit from the European Union in 2016. Major banks based in the United States, Japan and elsewhere consider relocating operations from London to Frankfurt: “an exodus would jeopardize...

The Diplomat: Asia and the Fall of Coal

Nithin Coca June 26, 2017
Asia, accounting for about 60 percent of the world’s population, is abruptly shifting away from coal toward renewable energies, especially solar. The most populated nations could lead the continent. “From 2002 to 2012, the global coal trade doubled, with the four largest Asian economies – Japan, South Korea, China, and India – accounting for the majority of imports,” reports Nithin Coca for the...

Bloomberg: Can China Really Rein in Credit?

Michael Pettis June 19, 2017
China's regulators and central bankers are trying to control the country’s debt and reduce associated risks, and in turn this may reduce economic growth. explains Michael Pettis, finance professor, in an opinion essay for Bloomberg: “there's a big difference between China's sustainable growth rate, based on rising demand driven by household consumption and productive investment,...

The Economist: What If the Bitcoin Bubble Bursts?

June 14, 2017
Bitcoin is a digital currency with algorithms used for ownership and trades. Security depends on the secrecy of those algorithms. A purchase of $100 worth of bitcoin in July 2010 would be worth about $4.6 million today. Overall market value of such currencies is about $80 billion. An article from the Economist questions bitcoin’s sustainability and whether the currency is more like gold or 17th...

The Conversation: Big Alcohol Is Poised to Expand Into Africa

Karen Hofman and Charles Parry June 2, 2017
The alcohol industry confronts low population growth rates and regulatory barriers in the developed world, its traditional source of profits. So the industry is focusing on Africa with its increasing affluence and what is described as a “high-intensity consumption of beer,” according to Karen Hofman and Charles Parry in the Conversation. AB Inbev, maker of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois...

MarketWatch: How Globalization Sunk Many Americans Deeper in Debt

Erik Loualiche June 1, 2017
International trade has uneven effects for regions of the United States and was particularly damaging for communities that relied on manufacturing – with high rates of underemployment, unemployment and debt. Household debt in the United States doubled from 2000 to 2007, peaking at $13 trillion in 2008, and nearly a third of US household debt could be attributed to import competition and...