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Senior Fellow for Economic History
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9500
E-mail: ashlaes@cfr.org
Location:
New York, NY
March 20, 2008
Op-Ed
Chicago Tribune
Authors say it is close to $3 trillion, but it doesn't seem to add up. Amity Shlaes breaks down the cost of the Iraq war.
See more in United States, Iraq, Defense Policy & Budget, Wars and Warfare
March 19, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
Bear Stearns certainly evokes the crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed it. Politicians are already making analogies to Herbert Hoover, the demon of that period, and Franklin Roosevelt, the angel. Amity Shlaes argues that while the 1930s do have plenty to tell us, the real challenge isn't deciding who resembles Hoover -- it is figuring out how to avoid a whole era of mistakes.
See more in United States, Economics, Presidency
March 5, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
In a new book, Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes put the cost of the Iraq war at three trillion dollars. Amity Shlaes says that while the book offers a reminder that wars usually cost more than budget figures suggest, the professors are off the mark when it comes to their larger charge that this conflict is necessarily darkening the U.S.'s future.
See more in United States, Iraq
February 27, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Politicians these days are scrambling to give money to African countries. Amity Shlaes argues that foreign aid can be the kiss of death for poor regions.
See more in Africa, United States
February 20, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
For a successful Cuba policy, President Bush should take a lesson from his father's administration, argues Amity Shlaes.
See more in Cuba, United States
February 7, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Amity Shlaes notes that while the economy may not be the Republican front-runner's favorite topic, Senator McCain is still a pretty good candidate. Just don't say he's "teachable."
See more in United States, Economics, Foreign Policy History, U.S. Election 2008
January 30, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
Following several high profile endorsements of Barack Obama last week, Amity Shlaes looks at the staying power of the Kennedy image in this election.
See more in U.S. Election 2008
January 28, 2008
News Briefing
CFR experts offer their analysis of President George W. Bush's final State of the Union address.
See more in U.S. Strategy and Politics, Presidency
January 23, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
Amity Shlaes discusses her theory on the Fed's drastic cut of interest rates.
See more in United States, Economics
January 16, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
The White House and Congress are currently working on an economic stimulus package to boost the U.S. economy. In this Bloomberg article, Amity Shlaes looks at short-term economic measures in a historical context and argues that tinkering with the economy may not be the best idea.
See more in United States, Japan, Economics
January 10, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
In recent months, President Bush has hinted at several ideas to stimulate the economy, including bonus depreciation, tax rebates, a reduction in the bottom tax rate, and a refundable tax credit for first-time home buyers. Amity Shlaes argues that these stimuli are not only off-point, they also steal political capital from good projects. When it comes to the economy, the president would do better if he just stayed off the campaign trail.
See more in United States, Economics, U.S. Election 2008
January 9, 2008
Interview
Amity Shlaes, an economic scholar, says she is impressed by Sen. John McCain’s New Hampshire primary win but notes that he has not traditionally concentrated on economic policy, a chief area of voters’ concerns.
See more in United States, Elections
December 20, 2007
Op-Ed
New York Sun
Amity Shlaes writes that “it is a shame that President Bush has chosen the ‘let's-make-a-deal’ option for handling subprime mortgages. By playing Monty Hall, he has insured that the credit crisis is likely to endure through 2008.”
See more in Economics
December 12, 2007
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
See more in U.S. Election 2008
November 14, 2007
Podcast
Amity Shlaes, CFR’s senior fellow for economic history, examines the current swing toward U.S. trade protectionism in the context of U.S. trade history.
See more in United States, Trade
November 12, 2007
Transcript
A Panel on world economics and the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, held at the NYU Stern School of Business and in conjunction with CFR and The Economist.
See more in United States, Economics
November 12, 2007
Video
Watch experts discuss globalization fears and the U.S. presidential elections as part of the Global Issues in Campaign '08 series, cosponsored by CFR.org, Economist, and NYU's Stern School of Business.
See more in United States, Economics, U.S. Election 2008
October 25, 2007
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
News that Cecilia Sarkozy is divorcing her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, is all over the U.S. press. But there is another woman in the Sarkozy constellation who matters more than Cecilia. She is Christine Lagarde, the 51-year- old French finance minister. At a recent meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations, Lagarde outlined her plan to cut marginal taxes on labor, lower the tax rate on investors by boosting research tax credits, lower the share of citizens' total income that can go to income taxes to 50 percent or less, and end a requirement that all patents be translated into French. Amity Shales writes that Lagarde is the one most likely to seduce investors away from the U.S. and to France.
See more in France
October 12, 2007
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Until recently, increasing house values and low interest rates have made taking out an adjustable-rate mortgage a no-brainer. Even as the mortgage crisis has unfolded, the traditional model of fixed-rate mortgages is still viewed as uncool. Amity Shlaes argues that Washington should promote fixed-rate mortgages to curtail moral hazard in home borrowing. Both homeowners and the financial markets that serve them would feel better knowing that at least one part of American life is fixed.
See more in Economics
September 20, 2007
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
To most U.S. citizens Medellin is code for all that is wrong with Latin America - the lawlessness, the drugs, the delusion that a network of thugs substitutes for a real economy. Congress feels about the same way- the approval of a bilateral free trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia is in doubt. Amity Shlaes writes that a recent trip to this city found a powerful turnaround that argues not only for endorsing the FTA, but also taking a second look at the region.
See more in Colombia, Business & Foreign Policy
Explore the international finance regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
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Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
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