In The News

Self-Insurance or Self-Destruction?

Gene Frieda April 7, 2014
The US Federal Reserve is gradually pulling back after months of purchasing bonds to inject liquidity into global markets. As liquidity shifts toward developed economies, the foreign reserves of emerging economies may not be enough to protect those financial systems, argues global strategist Gene Frieda for Project Syndicate: “In order to break the destabilizing cycle of short-term capital flows...

World Population Trends Signal Dangers Ahead

Barry Mirkin April 3, 2014
Demographers are often called upon to predict the future by extrapolating from population statistics and trends. The United Nations has revised population projections upward, and demographer Barry Mirkin suggests the warning signs are clear: The globe can anticipate a billion more people in a decade and another 2 billion by the end of the century for a total of 10.9 billion. People live longer,...

Shale Gas Helps Fracture US-Saudi Ties

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller April 1, 2014
President Barack Obama traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah, and both men “recognize that the geopolitical ground shaped by their common interest in stable oil prices has shifted, creating a new imbalance that could spill over into Mideast security policy,” suggests researcher Joergen Oerstroem Moeller. The so-called shale-gas revolution and eventual self-sufficiency in the United...

Fresh Corporate Default Tests China’s Resolve

Lucy Hornby and Jamil Anderlini March 14, 2014
Defaults, like profits, are a part of doing business, warns China’s premier, after Haixin Steel and Chaori Solar failed to make payments on debt. “Li Keqiang told reporters that China was likely to see a series of defaults as the government accelerates financial deregulation but said his government would take steps to ensure they do not pose a threat to the wider financial system,” reports the...

The US Economy Grows, But Jobs Don’t

Ashok Bardhan March 13, 2014
The US economy is growing, but employment is not keeping pace. A reliable supply of natural gas and dropping prices, high-tech manufacturing, and big-data analysis offer economic promise. Technology of all kinds contributes to efficiency and productivity. Firms consider returning facilities in the United States – a trend that has been named in-shoring or re-shoring. Growth is losing speed in...

How to Save the Shale Revolution

Robert A. Manning March 11, 2014
Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling pump water and chemicals into the ground and ease extraction of oil and natural gas. Critics point to the environmental risks, including earthquakes and groundwater contamination; some property owners even urge bans on the technology. Researchers have identified best practices to minimize problems; coordination among regulators could fend off the calls...

Emerge, Splurge, Purge

March 7, 2014
Multinational makers of phones, cars, beverages, and household products of all types have long eyed the emerging markets – the “geography seduced everyone,” suggests the Economist. Then the US Federal Reserve announced in mid-2013 that it would reduce bond purchases. Currencies of emerging economies in India, Turkey and South Africa fell in value along with a drop in consumer demand. The...