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February 14, 2009
Op-Ed
Newsweek
In this Newsweek article, David Victor warns that delivering greenery in the American political system will be difficult. On climate issues, America is less a nation than 50 different states moving at different speeds.
See more in Climate Change, Environmental Pollution
February 12, 2009
Op-Ed
Nikkei Financial Daily
In this Nikkei op-ed, Roger Kubarych analyzes the early challenges facing the Obama administration with regards to the economic crisis. He writes that the ugly stock market response to the Geithner plan will make it all the harder to recapitalize the U.S. financial system without taxpayers footing the bill.
See more in Economics, U.S. Strategy and Politics
February 6, 2009
Op-Ed
Forbes Online
The "buy American" provisions in the stimulus bill presented President Obama with the first test of his trade philosophy. In this Forbes article, Edward Alden and Jeremy Haft write that Obama has passed this test. The apparent compromise over these provisions is reassuring.
See more in United States, China, Economics, International Organizations
February 6, 2009
Op-Ed
Financial Times
In this Financial Times op-ed, Benn Steil takes a critical look at economists invoking the authority of Keynes in support of adding another trillion dollars to the federal debt.
See more in Economics, Financial Crises
February 4, 2009
Op-Ed
Financial Times
The Obama administration faces its two most protectionist challenges from the ‘Buy America' provisions in the stimulus package and the China bashing on ‘currency manipulation'. In this Financial Times op-ed, Jagdish Bhagwati argues that President Obama must fight protectionism right away or live to see the virus spread beyond control.
February 2, 2009
Op-Ed
Washington Post
In this Washington Post op-ed, Amity Shlaes argues that we should not repeat the New Deal stimulus experiments. The Depression tells us that public works are probably less effective than improving the environment for entrepreneurs and new companies.
See more in United States, Economics
January 25, 2009
Op-Ed
Washington Post
In this Washington Post op-ed, Sebastian Mallaby writes that China's currency manipulation is arguably the most important cause of the financial crisis. However, to get global growth going, it is more important to persuade China to extend its fiscal stimulus than to revalue its currency.
See more in China, Economics, U.S. Strategy and Politics
January 20, 2009
Op-Ed
Vancouver Sun
In this Vancouver Sun op-ed, Edward Alden says that while gridlock has been the norm in Washington, there are precedents for outbursts of creative and energetic government. Still, Americans' expectations for Obama face long odds.
See more in U.S. Strategy and Politics, Presidency, U.S. Election 2008
January 15, 2009
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
Amity Shlaes writes about the unlikely connection between Israel and India.
See more in India, Israel, Wars and Warfare, Terrorism
January 9, 2009
Op-Ed
Financial Times
In this Financial Times op-ed, Jagdish Bhagwati warns that Mr. Obama, who has properly denounced unilateralism, should not undermine the respect for the rule of law that the WTO embodies at the multilateral level.
See more in Trade, U.S. Election 2008
January 8, 2009
Article
The Vancouver Sun
In this excerpt from The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden writes that George Bush came to office as the most pro-immigrant president in modern U.S. history. Yet he presided over a war on terrorism that has been waged through anti-immigrant measures.
See more in Homeland Security, Immigration, Counterterrorism
January 8, 2009
Article
China Security
Brad W. Setser writes about the United States' dependency on China as its largest creditor. He argues that the U.S. government should look to transition to a world in which more U.S. investment is financed by the United States' own savings.
See more in China, Geoeconomics, International Finance
January 3, 2009
Op-Ed
Newsweek
David Victor and Varun Rai warn that the global environment may be one of the biggest losers in the current financial crisis as clean coal projects are abandoned around the world.
See more in Economics, Energy/Environment
January 3, 2009
Op-Ed
Ottawa Citizen
Seven years after the 9/11 attacks, Canada is still trying to cope with the new border regime that has been an enduring legacy of the terrorist attacks. In this Ottawa Citizen article, Edward Alden urges President-elect Obama to begin rebuilding trust on border issues with Canada.
See more in Border and Ports, Trade, U.S. Strategy and Politics, U.S. Election 2008
December 31, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
In this Bloomberg op-ed, Amity Shlaes argues against the Kiddie Tax, which discourages venturesome young investors.
See more in Economics, U.S. Strategy and Politics
December 31, 2008
Op-Ed
Washington Post
Amity Shlaes looks at lessons for President-elect Obama in FDR's experimentation during the Great Depression.
See more in Economics, U.S. Strategy and Politics, U.S. Election 2008
December 18, 2008
Op-Ed
Washington Post
Sebastian Mallaby argues against responding to the Madoff scandal with more regulation of hedge funds.
See more in Economics, Geoeconomics
December 17, 2008
Op-Ed
Bloomberg.com
Recent research suggests that the high-wage method of fending off economic depression can make a depression more likely. In this Bloomberg op-ed, Amity Shlaes argues that allowing wages to fall would reduce the risk of another depression.
See more in Economics, U.S. Strategy and Politics
December 12, 2008
Op-Ed
Huffington Post
The sooner the new administration lays out the contours of the agreement it wants on climate change, the better the odds that it will be able to deliver. In this Huffington Post article, Michael Levi suggests a 5 point strategy for UN climate negotiations.
See more in Energy/Environment, International Organizations
December 11, 2008
Op-Ed
Slate
The annual U.N. climate negotiations, currently under way in Poznan, Poland, have stalled. In this Slate article, Michael Levi argues that one major obstacle is that the list of who's rich and who's poor is hopelessly out of date.
See more in Poland, Energy/Environment, International Organizations
Subscribe to "This Month in Geoeconomics" newsletter.
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.
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