Journal Highlights
Columns
The Risks of Withdrawal
Entering a war is easy; getting out of it is the hard part. That axiom is particularly true for the United States today, as it muddles through three wars – two of which were forced upon it (Afghanistan and the “war on terror”), with the third (Iraq) started unnecessarily by a US administration blinded by [...]
International Trade and the Fight Against Climate Change
In the fight against climate change international trade can be either part of the problem or part of the solution. Both policy areas are closely intertwined. Just consider the millions of tons of goods ranging from T-shirts to raw materials that are transported across the globe, creating 23% of global CO2 emissions. Obviously, it would [...]
Two Men in a (Jackson) Hole – and One is still digging
There has been considerable coverage of Ben Bernanke’s speech to the annual central bankers’ bash at Jackson Hole on Friday. A number of US commentators have criticised his reticence to commit to more decisive stimulus (Paul Krugman, Dean Baker); the Financial Times called it ‘vapid’. There was much less coverage of ECB President Trichet’s address [...]
Warning: Why Cheaper Money won’t mean more Jobs
Can the Fed rescue the economy by making money even cheaper than it already is? A debate is being played out in the Fed about whether it should return to so-called “quantitative easing” – buying more mortgage-backed securities, Treasury bills, and other bonds – in order to lower the cost of capital still further. The [...]
Farage is Right About One Thing: The EU’s Democratic Deficit Does Matter
One of those sinful pleasures that some young progressives (among others) secretly indulge in is watching the chairman of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy EP group, Nigel Farage, humiliate time and again the EU’s leadership. Yes, even with all the cheap demagogy and the tasteless ad hominem attacks, Farage can be very funny. Nevertheless, [...]
Growth in a Buddhist Economy
I have just returned from Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom of unmatched natural beauty, cultural richness, and inspiring self-reflection. From the kingdom’s uniqueness now arises a set of economic and social questions that are of pressing interest for the entire world. Bhutan’s rugged geography fostered the rise of a hardy population of farmers and herdsmen, and [...]
Blogs
If they’re right, then they’re wrong
At the ECB rate-setting meeting today ECB President Trichet announced more optimistic growth forecasts. The GDP growth forecast (formally a ‘projection’, based on unchanged monetary policy) is for between 1.4% and 1.8% for this year, and between 0.5% and 2.3% next year. Meanwhile annual HICP inflation is projected to be in a range between 1.5% [...]
Industry gets its way – who will pay?
A seemingly arcane piece* in the back section of today’s Financial Times reports that industrial companies are to be exempted from planned European rules requiring them to use clearing houses for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trades after ‘months of lobbying’ by, surprise!, industrial companies. They have argued that such a requirement would be hugely costly, ‘possibly [...]
Eat the poor – Germany’s austerity package
Today the German government passed key measures in its austerity package first announced back in June. The stated aim is to ensure compliance with the bizarre new constitutional clause – the so-called debt-brake – requiring a balanced (structural) budget by 2016 at the latest and to get below the Maastricht 3% deficit limit by 2013. [...]
The Three I’s-Complex hits Germany
And finally it came to Germany, the all-disrupting debate about the Three I’s-Complex – Immigration, Integration and Islam -, a debate which threatens to turn all established politics, as we know it upside down. Germany has been contaminated by moral panic, because of Deutschland schafft sich ab, a book by Thilo Sarrazin, a former SPD-politician [...]
