October 9, 2019
TaiwanBased on the profits and losses disclosed by Taiwan’s central bank, it appears that its true FX exposures exceed its disclosed foreign exchange reserves by USD 130bn, and perhaps by as much as USD 20…
October 8, 2019
TaiwanWho is on the other side of the massive ($250 billion) hedging need of Taiwan's life insurance industry? The local banking system covers at most a quarter of the life insurers hedging need, and forei…
October 4, 2019
TaiwanThis is the third post in a series* on Taiwan's life insurers and their private & sovereign FX hedging counterparties. It’s the product of a collaboration with S.T.W**, a market participant and frien…
September 12, 2019
IranThe United States came up with “maximum pressure”—but the Israeli government is the only one carrying it out.
April 20, 2012
TradeThe Brookings Institution released a report on the correlation between income inequality and school quality. Schools in more affluent areas are likely to have higher average test scores, and housing …
March 17, 2009
Financial MarketsThe FT’s Gillian Tett makes a simple but important point: AIG’s role in the credit default swap market meant that a lot of risk that the bank regulators thought had been dispersed into many strong ha…
August 12, 2019
SanctionsFor many policymakers, economic sanctions have become the tool of choice to respond to major geopolitical challenges such as terrorism and conflict.
August 6, 2019
Terrorism and CounterterrorismThe latest mass shootings have prompted calls for more vigorous action by U.S. counterterrorism authorities, but the target is elusive.
July 1, 2019
ChinaWith the Osaka Xi-Trump summit producing an indefinite "truce" that halts further escalation (at least for now), there is every reason to expect the yuan to remain stable. The intervention proxies (s…
June 27, 2019
GlobalA growing number of countries are legalizing same-sex marriage amid a steady advance in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, but opposition remains strong in many countries.
