In The News

Ignoring Climate Change Just Got More Expensive

Eric Roston December 28, 2016
The costs of climate change – maintaining and insuring infrastructure, industry preparation, property damages and losses – are climbing. William Nordhaus of Yale University has updated his model for studying the effects of climate change on the global economy in an “era of minimal climate policies.” In short, the world is not doing enough to stem or prepare for climate change. “Even after...

China Central Bank Extends Emergency Loans to Financial Firms

Rachel Rosenthal and Yifan Xie December 22, 2016
In mid-December, the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, pumped more than US$80 billion into the bond and money market sectors of its financial industry. The bank was responding to a precipitous drop in bond prices “that led authorities to temporarily halt trading,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Chinese investors worry about the US Federal Reserve’s embrace of increased rate...

China May Penalize US Automaker Over Price-Fixing

John Ruwitch and Jake Spring December 20, 2016
A Chinese state-run newspaper has reported that a US car company has been setting artificially high prices in the Middle Kingdom since 2014. News of a potential Chinese crackdown on this monopolistic scheme caused shares of both Ford and GM to drop. China is critical to both businesses – with the largest vehicle market in the world that constituted over 15 percent of their net incomes last year....

Airbnb Cracks Down on Rentals in London, Amsterdam

Jasmine Enberg December 19, 2016
In an effort to appease regulators across Europe, Airbnb has implemented stringent rules for English and Dutch hosts on its home-sharing platform. These include limits on the number of days per year that one can rent out a property. With two of its top three most in-demand locations in Europe, Airbnb is trying to preempt regulations that may damage its bottom line. Germany and Spain are already...

US Federal Reserve Raises Rates

Harriet Torry December 14, 2016
The Federal Reserve, seeing improvements in the US economy and reduced unemployment rates, not only raised its benchmark short-term interest rate for the first time in a year but anticipates more rate hikes in 2017. The board’s vote was unanimous. Rates were kept near zero for seven years since the 2007-2008 financial crisis until a small rise in December 2015. “Fed officials said an improving...

The Complexity of Inequality

Michael Heise December 13, 2016
Governments delayed in accepting or tackling inequality as a major challenge. The concept “remains poorly defined, its effect is highly variable, and its causes hotly debated,” notes Michael Heise, chief economist of Allianz SE, for Project Syndicate. Inequality is concentrated in the developed world, and wealth is more broadly distributed at the global level: Since 2000, the ranks of the middle...

What the Latest Standardized School Tests Tell Us

Karin Klein December 9, 2016
Strong education systems contribute to strong economies. Every three years the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA, tests the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in math, reading and science. More than 80 countries have participated, and many obsess about rankings. Comparisons based on raw scores can be tricky, warns Karin Klein for the Los Angeles Times. Researchers...