In The News

Central Bank Prophet Fears QE Warfare Pushing World Financial System Out of Control

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard January 23, 2015
To escape lingering economic malaise, the European Central Bank announced plans to engage in stimulus spending by printing euros to purchase an array of bonds – €60 billion each month at least through September 2016 for a total of at least €1 trillion. The proposal was double what analysts had expected. The rescue comes late amid currency wars and efforts by other central banks to keep bank...

Chinese Stocks Plummet 8 Percent

Scott Cendrowski January 19, 2015
Chinese regulators suspended three large brokerage firms from extending margin accounts – essentially loans – for new clients for three months, and that led the Shanghai market index to plummet by more than 7 percent, the biggest drop in six years, reports Fortune. “The regulator also punished nine different brokerages for allowing unqualified traders to open leveraged accounts, Xinhua reported,...

Bracing for Stagnation

Raghuram Rajan January 14, 2015
The United States may be enjoying economic recovery, but stagnant wages and widening inequality suggest that those few glimmers will not sustain the global economy. Worries run high about feeble economic growth and deflation. In an article for Project Syndicate, reprinted by Live Mint, Raghuram Rajan, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, lists the problems and underlying causes of the “new...

Wrong-Way Bets on Oil

Will Hickey January 13, 2015
Nations are wary about fast-dropping oil prices and just how long those prices could stay low. Some nations are lured into ongoing dependence on fossil fuels while others reduce consumer subsidies and redirect funds into infrastructure development. Will Hickey, associate professor at Linton Global College in Daejeon, urges careful management of the windfalls as the decisions will have lasting...

Welcome To Brazil: The Effect of Immigration on the Country's Economy

Arthur Pinheiro Machado January 9, 2015
Countries benefit by attracting and retaining highly qualified immigrants. New entrepreneurs create business and jobs, and can be key to economic development. Secure emerging economies are particularly attractive, and Brazil has seen a recent inflow of such skilled workers, with temporary immigrant numbers rising 135 percent in the last six years. But as Arthur Pinheiro Machado writes in Forbes...

Managing Climate Change

Nicholas Stern January 8, 2015
Countries have limited resources, and careful planning could reduce waste and poverty while ensuring prosperity and security. Nicholas Stern, an economist who assesses the effects of climate change, focuses on India in this article for Seminar and argues that investing in urban planning and reducing sprawl has value: “Investments in cities, energy and land use have very long-run effects (lock-in...

Plummeting Oil Prices Upend Global Economy

Chris Miller January 6, 2015
Abrupt changes in prices of an essential commodity like oil immediately create winners and losers. Oil prices have fallen since July due to new supplies coming on line and exporters seeking to hold on to market share. If sustained for long, the price drop will transform the global economy and geopolitics, explains Chris Miller, PhD candidate at Yale University and research associate with the...