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November 3, 2009
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Amity Shlaes says that the Israeli military has played a surprising role in Israel's record of innovation.
See more in Economics
November 2, 2009
Academic Module
This module features teaching notes by CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi, author of Deterring State Sponsorship of Nuclear Terrorism, along with other resources to supplement the text. In this Council Special Report, Dr. Levi assesses the state of nuclear security in several vulnerable countries and examines how different deterrent threats would affect the dynamics of cooperation and competition to improve nuclear security.
October 2009
Other Report
This Squam Lake Working Group Paper endorses legislation that would give authorities the necessary powers to effect an orderly resolution of large complex financial institutions. As part of this authority, every such institution should be required to create “living wills” that would help authorities address the difficulties that might arise in a resolution.
See more in Financial Crises, Geoeconomics
October 27, 2009
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Amity Shlaes discusses the factors that contribute to alumni donations.
See more in Economics
October 20, 2009
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Amity Shlaes argues that senior entitlements preclude U.S. fiscal reform, starting with Social Security.
See more in Economics
October 2009
Other Report
In this CGS/IIGG Working Paper, Jeffry A. Frieden reviews the historical record on the political fallout from the unraveling of macroeconomic imbalances. He warns that the coming adjustments may test the capacity of national governments and international institutions to maintain an open international economic order.
See more in Financial Crises, International Finance
October 19, 2009
Op-Ed
Financial News
In Benn Steil's October column in Dow Jones' Financial News, he shows that the U.S. only calls for floating exchange rates when it believes the dollar will float down rather than up, and argues that this self-interested inconsistency is encouraging China and America's other major creditors to move away from non-discriminatory multilateral trade as they seek to lessen their dependence on the dollar.
See more in Financial Crises, Trade
October 18, 2009
Article
Washington Post
Edward Alden writes that the Department of Homeland Security "has yet to become a whole that adds up to more than its parts," reviewing books by its first two secretaries, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff.
See more in Defense/Homeland Security, Terrorism, Organization of Government
October 13, 2009
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Both parties seem to agree that the way to get Americans back to work is to create the right incentives. But Amity Shlaes argues that there may be too much "nudging" going on. Perhaps having too many "choice architects" is making the recovery unsatisfying.
See more in Geoeconomics, Labor
October 13, 2009
Op-Ed
Forbes Online
This year's Nobelists demonstrate the United States' success in science. But Edward Alden argues that we are jeopardizing this success through shortsighted immigration restrictions that make it difficult for the most talented and ambitious scientists to come here and remain.
See more in Geoeconomics, Immigration
October 13, 2009
Expert Brief
China's continued impressive growth is by no means assured, writes CFR's Steven Dunaway. Without basic changes to its economic model, including rule of law reforms, it could face considerable struggles, he says.
See more in China, Economic Development, Trade
October 6, 2009
Op-Ed
Financial Times
Matthew Slaughter writes that as the crisis and recession recede, U.S. policymakers must refocus on persistent structural problems, particularly income inequality.
See more in Geoeconomics, Trade
September 29, 2009
Op-Ed
Amity Shlaes says that Barney Frank's ideas to make the mortgage market "safe" will yield more primitive and fewer mortgages which won't entirely capture buyer potential.
See more in International Finance
September 26, 2009
First Take
G-20 leaders in Pittsburgh agreed to a coordinated effort to reduce the imbalances that contributed to the global economic crisis. But CFR's Marc Levinson writes any changes in policy will be slow in coming.
See more in United States, International Organizations
September 24, 2009
Interview
CFR's Roger M. Kubarych says the G-20 summit will find leaders relieved that the worst of the global economic crisis is over but divided over substantive changes to the world's financial architecture.
See more in Economics, Financial Crises, International Organizations
September 21, 2009
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Amity Shlaes writes that "to recall Kristol isn't to recall decline, but rather to remind that neoconservatism, or something like it, actually has a vibrant future."
September 18, 2009
Audio
Listen to Edwin M. Truman and David Wessel as they preview the upcoming G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh and its significance for a world struggling to recover from financial crisis
See more in Geoeconomics, International Finance, International Organizations
September 16, 2009
Transcript
CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi and CFR.org Editor Robert McMahon discuss the deadlock in global climate negotiations and the upcoming UN Copenhagen Summit in December 2009.
See more in Climate Change, International Organizations
September 15, 2009
Op-Ed
Bloomberg
Amity Shlaes warns that without the right incentives, market players will continue to game the system in the very fashion that President Obama deplored in his speech on reforming financial regulation.
See more in United States, International Finance
September 2009
Other Report
In this Center for Geoeconomic Studies Working Paper, Steven Dunaway argues that the world economy faces the prospect of a prolonged period of slower growth. Other sources of demand need to be found to take up the slack left by slower U.S. growth. However, the prospects for this do not look good, as none of the other major economies appear inclined to make the necessary changes in policies to deal with their imbalances and raise their demand.
See more in Financial Crises, International Finance
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In Money, Markets, and Sovereignty, the authors present a fascinating intellectual history of monetary nationalism from the ancient world to the present and explore why, in its modern incarnation, it represents the single greatest threat to globalization.
In The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the Bush administration’s struggle to balance security and openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
In Regional Monetary Integration, Peter B. Kenen poses an important question: Should various country groups follow the lead of the European Monetary Union and form similar full-fledged monetary unions?
In contrast to conventional wisdom, the growth in government spending and heightened regulation during the Great Depression may have done much to slow economic recovery.
In this report, Benn Steil shows that the financial crisis is the inevitable bust of a classic credit boom, and explains how monetary, taxation, and home ownership promotion policy combined with other feaures of the financial system to fuel an unsustainable buildup in debt. He recommends significant reforms to reverse the debt financing bias and make the system more resilient to falls in asset prices.
In order for policymakers to tackle today’s global economic crisis, this report argues, they must go beyond bailouts and stimulus packages and focus on one of the crisis's root causes: imbalances between savings and investment in major countries.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.