debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
The annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have provided a window onto two fundamental trends driving global politics and the world economy. Geopolitics is moving decisively away from a world dominated by Europe and the United States to one with many regional powers but no global leader. And a [...]
I am working on a paper about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Europe (hopefully there will be a post after Easter), so I suppose that colours the way I see this interesting chart posted by The Economist. I really think the EU should take emissions-reduction seriously (indeed that is the point of my piece). We [...]
Over the last four months, China has been claiming that it will help Europe’s financial woes by contributing billions of dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Recently the G20 finance leaders told Europe that, if the IMF is to fortify the eurozone financial facility, Brussels has to beef it up further. Such a warning [...]
Since late last year, a series of positive developments has boosted investor confidence and led to a sharp rally in risky assets, starting with global equities and commodities. Macroeconomic data from the United States improved; blue-chip companies in advanced economies remained highly profitable; China and emerging markets slowed only moderately; and the risk of a [...]
Despite years of official talk about addressing global current-account imbalances, they remained one of the world’s main economic concerns in 2011. Global imbalances were, to be sure, smaller overall than before the crisis, but they did not disappear. Now some are increasing again, alongside inequality in many countries. That link is no accident. One often [...]
OK, so the euro area seems bent on committing suicide. The UK appears to believe that austerity and stagnation will be more bearable if done in splendid isolation. The US political system is locked in arcane disputes while the economy stagnates and labour market and fiscal problems pile up. Meanwhile big emerging markets such as [...]
It is remarkable how willingly governments have surrendered national sovereignty to S&P and the bond markets while ceding sovereignty on carbon emissions governance to a UN body is anathema. The power of finance to blackmail governments seems much stronger than the power of nature – at least so far. What will act as the sword [...]
New buzz-words are entering into the traditional economic landscape of industrial relations. Managers and politicians who want to be in touch with new economic trends are using terms such as ‘green economy’, ‘renewable energy’ and ‘corporate social responsibility (CSR)’. Another concept that is being touted as a ‘big idea; is ‘fair-trade’ or ‘Creating Shared Value [...]
Challenged by the loss of millions of jobs in old manufacturing sectors, both the EU and US desperately need to restore their economies and find new ways to growth and prosperity. Health, welfare, climate change and the environment have been noted as some of the most promising areas for new growth and job creation. The [...]
For decades at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund the heads of these two institutions lectured the representatives from developing countries on how to manage their economies, from the macro of balancing budgets to the micro of privatizing public sector enterprises. Thusly imparting the enlightenment of sound policy, the [...]
What the US Treasury Secretary said to the Europeans and how they shunned him at our collective peril. Back in the era of unquestioned US hegemony, many Europeans (and I include myself) dreamed of the moment when our leaders would find it in their hearts publically to repudiate the heavy handed advice of a high ranking [...]
Yes if you are an individual, but probably not if you are an entire country. As the figure below shows, there are very few countries that have developed beyond $5,000 in 2005 PPP dollars without becoming democracies somewhere along the way (unless they are an oil economy). This scatter plot covers all countries with population [...]
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