In The News

Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore

Robert H. Frank October 29, 2010
Widening income gaps erode a society’s strength, sapping optimism and innovation. In recent decades, the US joined the ranks of less developed nations as income growth is concentrated among top earners. Political economists hesitate to condemn opposition to taxes that contributes to the trend. Exorbitant spending by a wealthy few establishes new expectations and standards of one’s need, raising...

G-20 Pledges to Avoid Devaluations in Push to Defuse Global Trade Tensions

Simon Kennedy, Eunkyung Seo October 26, 2010
Relatively low currency values make a nation's exports more attractive for global customers. Before global recession struck, the US and other nations protested artificially low values of China's currency. Heeding the warnings, China insisted on a gradual rise in value. To counter global recession and boost domestic spending, the US and others pumped currency into markets, essentially...

Surprising But True, US Exports Are Growing

Edward Gresser October 20, 2010
Global recession struck in late 2008, and high levels of personal and public debt complicated reviving the US economy and consumer spending. Increasing exports is the fastest, most logical alternative for boosting economic growth and reducing unemployment. In January 2010, President Barack Obama set a goal of doubling the nation’s exports in five years – and the nation is on track, selling...

Europe Frets Over Foreign Investments in Defense Industry

Clara Marina O’Donnell October 15, 2010
Sovereign wealth funds are estimated to manage close to $4 trillion of assets. European governments are increasingly concerned about such powerful investors, the bulk of which are from Asia and the Middle East, showing interest in their defense industries especially at a time when Europe must curtail its own defense investments. EU member states acknowledge that their national industrial bases...

Jobless America Threatens to Bring Us All Down With It

Jeremy Warner October 15, 2010
The coordinated attempt to rescue economies of developed nations – pumping billions of dollars of stimulus funds into banks and public-works projects – did not resolve the structural problems caused by massive imbalances. As unemployment, housing foreclosures and credit difficulties continue to mar the economic outlook, international cooperation for economic troubles has vanished, contends Jeremy...

Reverse Coupling

Nayan Chanda October 11, 2010
As the economies of Brazil, India and China continue fast-paced growth, many economists mull whether they have decoupled from traditional Western markets mired in debt, unemployment and banking crises – and are perhaps even capable of boosting the developed world. Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal editor, examines two recent reports that examine decoupling trends between developed and developing nations:...

Why the Financial Crisis and What Is the Way Out

Carmen Reinhart October 7, 2010
In an interview with Nayan Chanda, Professor Carmen Reinhart, co-author of This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, discusses the causes behind the current financial crisis and the measures needed to recover and grow. – YaleGlobal