In The News

Swiss Franc Decision Should Be a Lesson for Euro Critics

Charles Hawley September 9, 2011
European economies, strong and weak, have their doubts about the continent’s common currency. Strong exporters like Germany are weary of bailing out spendthrifts, and spenders like Italy and Greece resent austerity measures imposed on them by their euro partners. Developing rescue packages is an ongoing challenge. But like it or not, Europe realized Tuesday that the euro and other European...

Chinese Tycoon Seeks to Buy Tract of Iceland

Andrew Ward and Leslie Hook September 2, 2011
Big land purchases attract public scrutiny, especially if the buyer is a foreign national. A Chinese real estate investor has set out to buy 300 square kilometers of Icelandic wilderness for an eco-tourism project. The tract, partly under public ownership, represents about 0.3 percent of the island and government approval is required, reports the Financial Times. Investor Huang Nubo is a former...

The Eurozone Fights for Survival – Part II

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller August 18, 2011
Lenders are in the habit of putting profits over borrowers’ interests. Many players in the financial markets – the credit markets, banks, economists and analysts – took little notice as small eurozone economies like Greece amassed huge debts based on fiscal records of strong partners like Germany. Massive lending led to crisis, and an abrupt halt, hiking interest rates, aggravated the...

The Eurozone Fights for Survival – Part I

François Godement August 16, 2011
The debt crisis rocking Greece, Portugal or Italy not only threatens the stability of the eurozone, but also raises serious questions about the region’s relations with the world. This two-part series examines the European crisis and its ramifications. In the first article, François Godement, senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, points out that minimal attention is...

Rolling Shocks Explain Why the World Is So Depressed

David Ignatius August 12, 2011
It’s an expectation that free economies and political systems return to normal after periods of volatility. But that’s not always so, explains David Ignatius in his column for the Daily Star. “A disruption that initially seems manageable gets bigger and more dangerous as the system oscillates up and down,” he writes. “Indeed, the effort to understand market failure and social disorder helped...

Of Reversing Globalization

Nayan Chanda August 2, 2011
Threats to the status quo and fear of change, often helped along by outside forces, is the foundation for extremism. Economic crisis in Europe combined with high levels of immigration suggest that support for protectionist, anti-immigrant, anti-Islamic policies will only strengthen, explains Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal’s editor, in his regular column for Businessworld. French politicians on the left...

Norway Attacks: Anders Behring Breivik Will Join History's Human Monsters

Henning Mankell July 27, 2011
Those with radical agendas do not trust the pace of political processes or their moderating force. Filled with absolute certainty, clinging to religious or ideological notions, they launch into angry action to implement their ideas. Worse, some like Anders Behring Breivik deliver their messages so out of touch with everyday society with surprising violence. Writing for the Guardian, novelist...