In The News

US and China: Grappling Over Economic Rescue – Part II

Edward Gresser February 2, 2009
With the rest of the world looking for leadership in emerging from economic crisis, how to stimulate the growth in China and the US has become the most urgent task. Other nations expect the pair to coordinate policy and do what they can to unfreeze credit, restore stable growth and ease unbalances. Currency rates are one of the ways to moderate swings in global growth and trade flows, explains...

US and China: Grappling Over Economic Rescue – Part I

Xu Sitao January 30, 2009
Trade imbalances, fueled by overproduction and saving in Asia, too much consumption and debt in the West, have compounded the harsh global recession. Analysts in the US and elsewhere in the West floundering for a remedy have focused on China’s trillion-plus dollar surplus and suggest that an increase in Chinese domestic spending might ease the global pain. This two-part YaleGlobal series suggests...

Economic Crisis Could Push Reform in China

Zhiwu Chen November 12, 2008
Economic crisis can be a time of opportunity, particularly if political leaders are savvy enough to use the down period to introduce needed reforms. Zhiwu Chen, finance professor with the Yale School Management, offers such a blueprint for China. An economic stimulus package announced this week by the Chinese government, aimed at building infrastructure, is only a first step. Chen also urges the...

Global Crisis: How Far to Go? Part III

Scott B. MacDonald October 13, 2008
As profits surge, financial players eschew government intervention, but crave rescue as problems emerge. Public confidence in banks around the globe could make a cautious comeback, after the UK-led massive semi-nationalization of banks with "equity injection." This YaleGlobal series explores the global financial crisis, detailing how US troubles over mortgage-backed securities and the...

Global Crisis: How Far to Go? Part II

Manu Bhaskaran October 10, 2008
Speed of transportation and communication that characterize today’s global supply chain requires trust and flow of credit along the many steps: But now consumers worry about the future of their jobs, retailers and manufacturers worry about sales, suppliers worry about orders and lenders clutch to their reserves of cash. In the second article of the YaleGlobal series addressing the repercussions...

Scrambling to Clean Up After a Category 4 Financial Storm

Steven Pearlstein September 24, 2008
The global economy is in crisis, with giant financial institutions folding, banks refusing to lend to other banks and some countries closing, changing stock-market rules and currencies dropping in value. “What we are witnessing may be the greatest destruction of financial wealth that the world has ever seen – paper losses measured in the trillions of dollars,” writes Steven Pearlstein for the...

Wall Street Dodges a Bullet, How About Next One?

David Dapice September 17, 2008
Low interest rates prompted many investors and homeowners to pour savings into real estate and homes. Investors, convinced that prices could not fall, purchased debt packages including mortgages based on ample credit with little down payments. Prices for homes and investments soared, with the total value of US housing going from about $12 trillion in 2000 to more than $20 trillion in 2006. Now,...