Bernanke's leadership a critical factor for Fed policy http://t.co/6VG8v3Pw62 via @CBSNews
12 minutes ago
-
Trichet and the ECB Learn to Live with an SD Rating
Normally attempts at “Kremlinological interpretations” of policymakers’ every word should be avoided. When an institution like the European Central Bank suggests a critical policy change during the Q&A session of its regular press conference, observers are left with little choice. A closer analysis of what Jean Claude Trichet said at his July 7 press conference1, [...]
-
The G-20’s Action Plan on Food Price Volatility and Agriculture
The G-20 Agriculture Ministers met in Paris last June 22 and 23 to tackle the issue of food price volatility with the goal to improve food security. The Ministerial Declaration “Action Plan on Food Price Volatility and Agriculture” is a 24-page document whose main objectives are: 1) improve agricultural production and productivity to respond to [...]
-
Greece Does the Right Thing, After Another Turbulent Week in the Euro Area
A deadline before a deadline before a deadline. The political brinkmanship in the euro area crisis has clearly reached new levels in recent weeks, culminating in the vote in Greece’s Parliament on June 29 to accept a tough austerity package in return for new loans to avert a default. The vote demonstrated that for all [...]
-
Markets, Politics, and the Euro
One of the most memorable quotes of the financial crisis was delivered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in May 2010, when she declared that “in a way, it is a struggle between politics and the markets. We must re-establish the primacy of politics over the markets.” Though unusually stark, this formulation echoes a widespread perception [...]
-
Euro Area Crisis Mismanagement: A Case Study in Dithering
The euro area crisis is in its 18th month. The conflagration continues to blaze. Rather than constructing a firewall to protect euro area countries other than Greece, European authorities have allowed the flames to spread to Ireland and Portugal and threaten Spain as well. What went wrong? The leaders of the euro area have not [...]
-
Power-Sharing in Greece Would Be Great News for All
Recent news suggested that the current Greek center-left Panhellenic Social Movement (PASOK) government might morph into a national unity government including the main Greek center-right New Democracy Party and possibly several technocratic ministers. Some reports say further that Prime Minister George Papandreou might step down in the process,1 though he announced on Wednesday that he [...]
-
What’s Behind the Squabble Over a New Aid Package for Greece?
As euro area members jockey over who will pay to keep Greece afloat in the next two years, political grandstanding by elected leaders is to be expected. A lively display of those tactics is under way ahead of the euro area and European Union (EU) meetings later this month, from June 20 to 24. So [...]
-
Portugal Votes for the IMF
Judging from the press coverage of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, you would think that citizens of Greece, Portugal and other errant countries are in full scale revolt against the measures being imposed to get them back to solvency. But this weekend’s election result in Portugal illustrates the need to separate dramatic television pictures of street [...]
-
A Marshall Plan for Egypt
The promising Arab Spring has left North Africa in limbo. Now the task is to build a new political and economic system that is sustainable. President Barack Obama’s speech on the Middle East on May 19 outlines most of the right economic features. When communism ended two decades ago, the Soviet Union fared much more [...]
-
The Fallout on Pakistan from the Killing of Osama Bin Laden
By Mohsin S. Khan and Raza Agha The killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on the night of May 2 has raised a host of questions about the implications of the operation for Pakistan. First, for the United States the main question is how the most wanted terrorist in the world could have [...]
