Due to years of underinvestment in the water processing system, and a rich abundance of crude oil, water in Venezuela is now twice as expensive as gasoline. Residents in Caracas have become wary of tap water after it was discovered that Lake Mariposa, a reservoir that supplies tap water to 750,000 Venezuelans, has become seriously contaminated due … Read more
Against a backdrop which offers an eerie parallel with events which took place somewhat to the North more than 30 years ago, Catalonia is now threatening to separate from Spain. In so doing the region seems to be putting at risk both the future of the host country and beyond that the outlook for the … Read more
Commentators often assume that relatively unfettered trade in goods and services and free movement of capital are givens, but the drive toward greater economic openness could now be undergoing a reversal, with profound implications for the global economy. This piece, the first of a two-part series, looks at the drivers of this shift. Globalization reached … Read more
The recent IMF proposals to help stimulate growth and job creation in Spain at least deserve serious consideration. In a blog post that sought to defend the recent IMF proposal to for a social compact involving a 10% reduction in Spanish wages and salaries, EU Economy and Finance Commissioner Olli Rehn cited a line from … Read more
What follows is an interview I did over the summer with the Madrid based publication The Local. Let’s start with the basics: what are Spain’s current economic problems? Spain’s economic problems are a knock-on effect of the end of Spain’s property boom. The collapse of the property market led to a drop in incomes, depressed … Read more
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama held a meeting and press conference with Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister of Sweden, in which he was asked what the US could learn from Sweden. He replied: “What I know about Sweden, I think, offers us some good lessons. Number one, the work you have done on energy I think is … Read more
During the height of the Iraq war, then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke of “known unknowns” – foreseeable risks whose realization is uncertain. Today, the global economy is facing many known unknowns, most of which stem from policy uncertainty. In the United States, three sources of policy uncertainty will come to a head this … Read more
Purpose and Concepts The purposes of this brief note are two-fold: first, to establish, by country, the extent to which public sector borrowing contributed to the rise in public debt over the period since 2008; and, second, to draw some policy inferences. The two indicative fiscal parameters used in this analysis are: Borrowing = general … Read more
“… History says, Don’t hope on this side of the grave…” –Seamus Heaney Mr. Heaney’s words are appropriate for this foul situation. I see nothing to be hopeful about in Syria. Whatever happens, the Syrian people will face further torment. President Obama’s proposed limited air attack on the Assad regime, with no boots on the ground, is the … Read more
If two similar things with the same theme can be considered a “series,” then last night Reuters put out the second interview in what I’m dubbing the “Inside An Economist’s Brain” series. If you did not see the first one, I was interviewed about a month ago on a psychological profile I conducted of Larry … Read more