In The News

Consumers Unlikely to Rescue China's Sputtering Economy

Huang Zhilong August 2, 2016
Economists, inside China and outside, point to consumer spending on an expanding services for economic growth. But that requires borrowing and Chinese consumers may balk at taking on more debt, explains economist Huang Zhilong for Caixin. Huang points out that Chinese household debt is already at historic highs and consumers lacking official urban residence permits loan may struggle with loan...

India’s Digital Revolution Poised to Propel Services

Nandan Nilekani July 26, 2016
India is poised to revolutionize the service industry, in such a way that borrowing, saving and transferring money could happen as swiftly as sending an email. This technological leap enables India to rely more on services and domestic consumption even as world trade is slumping. A nationwide government initiative encouraging financial inclusion and bank accounts, combined with biometric-based...

The UK Will Survive, But Europe Won't

Sławomir Sierakowski June 27, 2016
Voters in Europe and the United States are increasingly lulled by the wild promises of populists who seek change and destruction of global institutions masterminded by elites. “The economy has gone global, but politics is still a national process,” writes Sławomir Sierakowski. “This disconnect has created the sense, among ordinary citizens, that democracy – the people’s will – has been undermined...

Brexit Is a Rejection of Globalization

Larry Elliott June 27, 2016
The less affluent fear political unions and expanding institutions because they lack power and control. With more concentrated power, wealth and influence the have-nots resist globalization, clinging to populist promises and local controls. Britain’s decision to leave the European Union reflects dissatisfaction with an economic model in place for three decades and its distribution of benefits. “...

“Brexit” Could Send Shock Waves Across US and Global Economy

Ylan Q. Mui June 22, 2016
The United States is the biggest foreign investor in the United Kingdom, and US firms regard the nation as a base for trading with the rest of the European Union. The US and the UK each have about a half trillion dollars’ worth of foreign direct investment and employ about a million workers in the other. “The heavy-equipment giant Caterpillar exemplifies the dilemma facing American businesses in...

The Financial Plan for “Brexit”? Cross Your Fingers

Peter S. Goodman June 17, 2016
The financial industry is unnerved by polls before the June 23 referendum in Britain on sticking with or leaving the European Union suggesting momentum favors exit. “Like local responders readying sandbags as a hurricane menaces their shores, financial industry overseers have been quietly drawing up contingency plans while surveying the expensive havoc a so-called Brexit is already wreaking,”...

American Capitalism’s Great Crisis

Rana Foroohar June 8, 2016
Young Americans no longer perceive benefits from capitalism, and such sentiments will influence the outcome of the US presidential election. The system of US market capitalism is broken, explains Rana Foroohar, author and Time magazine’s assistant managing editor for economics and business. Only about 15 percent of wealth from individual and corporate savings is invested in businesses for adding...