South Africa in the post-apartheid period has registered steady growth, but mounting problems over inequality threaten the continent's economic engine, explains this Backgrounder.

Lael Brainard, undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Treasury, discusses the outlook for the global economy.

Lael Brainard, undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Treasury, discusses the outlook for the global economy.

Lael Brainard, undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Treasury, discusses the outlook for the global economy.

Generally, for advanced countries with deep and liquid capital markets like the United States, the best policy is to allow these markets to determine exchange rates.

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Jose Alvarez, Herbert and Rose Rubin professor of international law at New York University School of Law, discusses the growth and distributional effects and the human rights implications of global economic governance through bilateral investment treaties, with a focus on the global south.

According to Michael Levi , "selling Teslas (TSLA) to wealthy people today may be the best way to get electric cars to everyone tomorrow, and for the United States to eventually reduce its dependence on oil, with all the national security and economic benefits that entails."

Andrew Kohut and Michael Dimock discuss the findings of their new Renewing America Working Paper.

Jeffrey M. Lacker discusses "too big to fail" protection for financial institutions and credible alternatives to this policy.

Jeffrey M. Lacker discusses "too big to fail" protection for financial institutions and credible alternatives to this policy.

Jeffrey M. Lacker discusses "too big to fail" protection for financial institutions and credible alternatives to this policy.

The political successor to the Dalai Lama discusses Tibet.

The political successor to the Dalai Lama discusses Tibet.

PBS journalist Paul Solman interviewed Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew about long-term unemployment, economic growth, and spending cuts on May 8, 2013.

Charles Landow and Courtney Lobel trace the evolving similarities between Pittsburg and Bangalore's economic development.

Despite an extended period of economic difficulty, Pew pollsters Andrew Kohut and Michael Dimock show that Americans' core values and beliefs about economic opportunity remain largely optimistic and unchanged.

Outside of a humanitarian crisis—such as a famine or a natural disaster—it is hard to make the case that any country deserves another's economic support. To paraphrase Britain's Lord Palmerston, countries do not have permanent friends, only permanent interests.

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The prospective challenge of containing inflation, buttressing a collapsed housing market, and normalizing the Federal Reserve's bloated balance sheet has created an "exit strategy" dilemma for Chairman Ben Bernanke. CFR Director of International Economics Benn Steil urges the Federal Reserve to swap mortgage-backed securities with the U.S. Treasury in exchange for Treasury securities, which the Fed can then sell as part of a normal process of monetary tightening.

CFR Director of International Economics Benn Steil urges the Federal Reserve to swap mortgage-backed securities with the U.S. Treasury in exchange for Treasury securities, which the Fed can then sell as part of a normal process of monetary tightening as a solution for the prospective challenge of containing inflation, buttressing a collapsed housing market, and normalizing its bloated balance sheet.

America's generals understandably spend much of their time worrying about strong countries, notes Richard N. Haass. But in today's world, when the consequences of weakness in the remotest areas can quickly become global, the United States arguably has more to fear from weak countries.