Examines data including GDP, household debt, and industrial production to show the weakness of the current recovery compared to previous postwar rebounds.

Benn Steil's op-ed for Paul Solman's PBS The Business Desk site looks critically at calls for "a new Bretton Woods." He argues that many of the critical precepts behind the 1944 American Bretton Woods blueprint were overturned by the Truman Administration a mere three years later, and that the operation of the Bretton Woods monetary system was far briefer and more troubled than is typically reckoned.

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.

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

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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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.

To date, Chinese officials have asserted that their interest in Gwadar is strictly a commercial effort to provide another energy corridor for Middle East oil, and Pakistani government officials stridently affirm this position. New Delhi, on the other hand, has expressed "concern" about the true motivations in developing Gwadar, suspecting that it is a Sino-Pak effort at encirclement.

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Benn Steil explains in his column for Dow Jones' Financial News why the latest craze in monetary policymaking—targeting nominal output—has no staying power.

Joshua Kurlantzick discusses the China model of economic development, which he describes as, "economic liberalization without political liberalization."

Peter Orszag examines how cities could foster more public-private partnerships in infrastructure construction with revenue-based auctions.

Michael Spence outlines the conflicting objectives that President Obama and the U.S. Congress must reconcile as they negotiate a new federal budget.

Peter Orszag argues that switching to the chained consumer price index for calculating Social Security cost-of-living adjustments will not make as much of a difference as many seem to think.

This chart book shows the growth in foreign ownership of U.S. assets over time.

The Brazilian government faces a number of challenges and opportunities concerning its economic forecast in the coming years. After peaking at 7.5 percent growth in 2010, Brazil's recent economic slowdown has caused worry that the dream of a new high-growth economy had slipped out of reach.

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Peter Orszag argues that low interest rates and high unemployment make today an ideal time to repair deteriorating U.S. infrastructure.

Joshua Kurlantzick explores why the "Beijing Consensus" has attracted so many admirers in recent years in this excerpt from his new book Democracy in Retreat.

Peter Orszag writes that, although health care costs have been rising more slowly, recent data suggest Medicare spending growth may have sped up slightly in the past few months.

Michael Spence examines what options the Italian government has for restoring economic growth as eurozone efforts at stabilization the banking sector and sovereign-debt markets founder.

Benn Steil's op-ed on Bloomberg Echoes describes the drama surrounding the collapse of dollar-starved Britain's empire in the wake of WWII.

Peter Orszag argues that widening gaps in college completion rates between rich and poor students not only undermines the American ideal of equal opportunity, but also misses an economic opportunity to boost productivity.