Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Trump's deals are weakening the rule of law
News, Richard K Sherwin, Published on 09/08/2025
» European Union trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic described the recent US-EU trade agreement in unvarnished terms. Agreeing to a 15% tariff on most exports to the United States and promising to purchase $750 billion (24 trillion baht) worth of American energy over three years and to invest another $600 billion in the US (not including an unspecified amount in additional orders of US-made military hardware) was "clearly the best deal we could get."
The climate challenge as a development opportunity
Oped, Navroz K Dubash, Published on 06/06/2025
» When climate change is framed as a global problem requiring collective regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions, developing-country governments see little reason to prioritise the issue over others. After all, the rich, industrialised countries who contributed disproportionately to the problem are themselves backing away from decarbonisation and climate-finance commitments, while low-income countries bear the brunt of the costs of climate change. Decision-makers in developing countries understandably conclude it may be more rational to hunker down and focus on climate resilience rather than emissions reductions.
US can't rely on inflation shamanism
News, James K Galbraith, Published on 23/09/2024
» Google "shamanism" and you will find that it is "a tradition of part-time religious specialists who establish and maintain personalistic relations with specific spirit beings through the use of controlled and culturally scripted altered states of consciousness." Every element of that definition applies to monetary policymaking today, as illustrated by the reaction to the US Federal Reserve's Sept 18 decision to cut the short-term interest rate by 50 basis points.
America's 'new' China narrative hits the stands
Oped, James K Galbraith, Published on 24/08/2023
» Three recent articles in The New York Times have signalled a "new" narrative about China. Only weeks ago, China was America's fearsome "peer competitor" on the world stage. But now, we are told, it is a wounded dragon. Once a threat by dint of its inexorable rise, now it poses a threat because it is in decline.
The banks the world badly needs
Oped, Lawrence H Summers & N K Singh, Published on 27/07/2023
» The world is literally on fire. Experts estimate that another Covid-level public health threat is likely to emerge in the next generation. Rising interest rates have left dozens of countries with unmanageable debt burdens. And for the first time in nearly half a century, the global economy is fracturing rather than coming together.
Musk's covert war on free speech
News, Richard K Sherwin, Published on 17/10/2022
» In 1897, the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst sent illustrator Frederic Remington to cover the Cuban War of Independence. When Remington relayed that "there will be no war," Hearst allegedly cabled back: "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war."
The trade cure for the global economy
Asia focus, Victor K Fung, Published on 25/05/2020
» The Covid-19 pandemic has sent the world into perilous, uncharted territory from which no country will emerge unscathed. All economies, rich and poor, are falling into recession and can limit the fallout only by working together.
The evolution of CSR in China
Asia focus, Asit K Biswas and Cecilia Tortajada, Published on 06/01/2020
» Over the last decade, Chinese businesses have made significant strides in incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into their decision-making. But they still have a long way to go, and they will not get there on their own.
Cities for the people
Asia focus, Abhas K Jha in Singapore, Published on 22/04/2019
» Dante's Divine Comedy describes one level of hell (the City of Dis) as "Satan's wretched city … full of distress and torment terrible". He could well have been describing many modern-day metropolises.
Soft power and Trump's 'winning' trade policy
News, Andrew K Rose, Published on 28/03/2019
» The latest US trade data put into stark figures the results of President Donald Trump's "winning" trade policy. Having talked up his tough line on competitors, stopping other countries "ripping off" the US and slashing America's trade deficit, he can now proudly boast … a deficit at its highest level in a decade.