Goldman unveils checks on conflicts in bid to fix image http://t.co/g51r1b03Sk
18 minutes ago
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A New Era for Global Financial Standards
Even as headlines remain dominated by the euro area crisis, the financial world is transforming itself along multiple other dimensions. One intriguing but so far little-noticed development is the gradual shift in the role of global financial standard setters, which are becoming more assertive in looking at how their standards are adopted and implemented around [...]
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Will the French Elections Derail the Fiscal Compact in Europe?
On March 2, 25 European Union members signed their long-discussed fiscal compact, the treaty committing them to balance their budgets in the future, paving the way for national ratification of the compact before January 2013. Most analysts expect the compact to be ratified in most countries. But a few signs of doubt have emerged over [...]
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China’s Economic Outlook in 2020 and Beyond
Near-term China investment decisions and US trade and economic policymaking are influenced by competing views of China’s longer-term outlook. Yet economic models of China’s long-term growth are shaky, debatable and hence few in number. Official statements from China’s leadership about long-term expectations, and more importantly about the composition of long-term economic growth, are even more [...]
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Why President Obama Can Stop Worrying About Europe
Can President Obama’s increasingly confident reelection drive come undone because of the economic turmoil in Europe? That is a question that many in the White House are said to be worrying about. The fears have some foundation based on recent experience. The relatively strong US economic recovery in early 2010—3.9 percent growth in the first [...]
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Chinese Household Wealth and the Housing Market
The Chinese housing market is clearly undergoing a correction that may eventually bring housing prices back to a more reasonable level. As the past several years have made all too apparent, housing downturns are economically painful and can lead to larger economic crises. The network of financial leverage that fueled the US housing bubble turned [...]
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Why Greece Must Not Leave the Euro Area
The two most crucial questions about the Greek public debt crisis have been whether the country would be forced to default on its public debt and whether it would have to leave the euro area. At present Greece has pursued an orderly default on its privately held debt, but it remains in the euro area. [...]
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Reauthorize the Export-Import Bank: Part II
Reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank is stalled in Congress because of opposition from odd bedfellows. The issue has been addressed previously in this forum, but in this posting a solution to the impasse is offered that could clear the way for funding a vital federal program. Before we get to that drama, it’s worth considering [...]
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North Korea’s Surprising Steps: ‘Modest’ Progress
In the wake of the death of Kim Jong-il, there were questions as to whether anyone was in charge in Pyongyang. Now we know that someone is capable of making decisions and their first one constitutes a conciliatory (indeed, concessionary), not belligerent, gesture. The agreement does not completely freeze the North Korean nuclear program but [...]
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An Alternative for Greece: An Incomes Policy to Achieve Internal Devaluation
The sad fact is that no one outside officialdom (who are duty-bound to talk nonsense when sense is too embarrassing) seems to regard the recent privately held debt write-down and second Greek bailout as likely to offer an exit to Greece from its nightmare, even in the long run. The reason is simple: Greek competitiveness [...]
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Oops, I Underestimated China’s GDP
More than a year ago, I argued that China’s GDP in purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars had overtaken that of the United States in 2010. This calculation is used in my book, Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China’s Economic Dominance and plays a role in my conclusion that China has overtaken or is close [...]
