In The News

G7 Vows Growth Efforts as Japan's Abe Warns of Global Crisis

Tetsushi Kajimoto May 27, 2016
The Group of Seven industrial powers are in an ongoing quest for global economic growth, but declined to move forward with Japan’s assessment of a “sense of crisis” and the risk of economic contraction. “G7 leaders wrapped up a summit in central Japan vowing to use ‘all policy tools’ to boost demand and ease supply constraints,” reports Reuters. Also, “the G7 committed to market-based exchange...

What Macroeconomists Are Missing

Andrew Sheng May 25, 2016
Mainstream economic models failed to predict the 2007 global economic crisis. In an essay for CaixinOnline, Andrew Sheng suggests that the models overlook the impact of uncertainty and that fragmented analysis neglects global connections: “[S]pecialists and departmental agencies know more and more about less and less and are unable to connect the dots to view the economic and social system as a...

Global Migration? Actually, The World Is Staying Home

Guido Mingels May 24, 2016
Despite news about waves of refugees fleeing conflict and poverty, the number of people on the move has held fairly steady for the past five decades. Less than 1 percent of the world’s population of 7.3 billion has migrated for any reason during the last five years. The Wittgenstein Center for Demography in Vienna delves into United Nations statistics and offers surprising findings. For example,...

The Ghost of Kyoto Still Lurks

Nayan Chanda May 19, 2016
Representatives of more than 170 countries have signed the Paris agreement, pledging to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and stem climate change – conceding “that climate change is a global problem and needs a global solution,” writes Nayan Chanda, founding editor of YaleGlobal Online in his column for Businessworld. But Chanda also expresses concern that the agreement may be a symbolic act and...

Fighting the Next Global Financial Crisis

Robert J. Shiller May 18, 2016
Investors hunt for news from many sources and assess the reliability. Investor attention can focus on surprising trends, and regulators must adapt to shifting narratives and moods, explains Robert Shiller, Yale economics professor and the 2013 Nobel laureate in economics. Shiller details the history of money-market funds and the threat of mass withdrawals during the 2008 global financial crisis....

IMF: Global Corruption Costs Trillions in Bribes, Lost Growth

David Lawder May 16, 2016
Corruption destabilizes governments and the global economy as a whole. “Public sector corruption siphons $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion annually from the global economy in bribes and costs far more in stunted economic growth, lost tax revenues and sustained poverty,” writes David Lawder for Reuters about an International Monetary Fund research report. The indirect costs – erosion of trust and...

New Attack Reported by Swift Global Bank Network

Michael Corkery May 13, 2016
Technology has allowed banks to expand into behemoths and the assets of some number in the trillions. Thieves are using banking technology to conduct online bank robberies. “Thieves have again found their way into what was thought to be the most secure financial messaging system in the world and stolen money from a bank,” reports Michael Corkery for the New York Times. Swift, or Society for...