Showing 1 - 10 of 12
Will the global economy stall?
News, Eswar Prasad and Caroline Smiltneks, Published on 21/04/2025
» The timing could hardly have been less propitious. Just as the world economy was showing signs of stabilising, the odds of a policy-induced global recession have risen significantly. The latest update to the Brookings-FT Tiger index reveals a mixed picture, with the financial index declining and private-sector confidence crumbling even as macroeconomic data (which lag the other indicators) suggest a more benign scenario.
The effects of Trump's Ukraine deal
News, Gene Frieda, Published on 24/02/2025
» At the end of World War I, John Maynard Keynes was part of the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, where the victorious Allies dictated the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. He emerged from the conference distraught. As he subsequently wrote in The Economic Consequences of the Peace, delegates' focus on short-term political considerations, including the desire to "punish" Germany for its aggression, would come at the cost of long-term social and political stability in Europe. It is a warning worth remembering today.
2% inflation targets wiggle room
News, Mike Dolan, Published on 11/06/2024
» This week's milestone G7 interest rate cuts dispel any notion that hitting 2% inflation targets spot on is a precondition for central bank moves or indeed sensible -- and may guide thinking on the Federal Reserve and Bank of England too.
World 'on brink' of recession
News, Reuters, Published on 12/01/2023
» WASHINGTON: The World Bank slashed its 2023 growth forecasts on Tuesday to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia's war in Ukraine continues, and the world's major economic engines sputter.
Europe's Russia sanctions are a shot in the foot
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 19/12/2022
» It seems obvious that sanctions -- an increasingly important tool of Western foreign policy -- should inflict significant pain on the target without exacting unsustainably high costs from the country imposing them. But the European Union's sanctions on Russia -- intended to punish the country for its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine -- do not meet this condition.
Look beyond Great Depression to solve Covid-19 blues
News, Stephen W Campbell, Published on 12/09/2020
» United States unemployment levels not seen since the 1930s have prompted pundits to examine previous eras -- particularly the Great Depression -- for lessons on how to escape the current economic crisis. Unfortunately, the past offers few straightforward answers. Previous economic eras, when understood with all of their complexity and ambiguity, do not point to an obvious path ahead.
World economy needs potent economic medicine
News, Larry Hatheway, Published on 29/02/2020
» The Covid-19 epidemic is accelerating, and as the new coronavirus approaches pandemic status, it is increasingly likely that the economic impact will be severe. Alongside intensifying public-health responses, governments must step in to mitigate the virus's impact on growth, employment, and living standards.
Merkel tries not to go out with a bang
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 16/11/2018
» It could have been a call for decisive action by a leader no longer tethered by domestic politics. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel's appearance at the European Parliament on Tuesday was nothing of the sort: Ms Merkel unbound is the same cautious, gradualist Merkel.
Italy's right to make wrong choice
News, John Lloyd, Published on 04/06/2018
» The Italian crisis is over, and has just begun. Its dimensions go far beyond Italy; they are now European, even global. The near three-month long improvisations on a theme of governance ended Thursday with the announcement of an administration headed by Giuseppe Conte, a law professor with no government experience tasked with running a cabinet controlled by the leaders of the two parties which form that administration -- a signal of weak, divided and warring politics at the summit of power for the foreseeable future.
EU's survival at risk if Italy decides to exit
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/05/2018
» From the European Union's (EU) point of view Brexit, the impending departure of the United Kingdom, is a pity but not a disaster. Britain never joined the euro, the common currency used by most EU members, and the English were always the awkward squad in the EU's march towards an "ever closer union". Whereas the defection of Italy could threaten the EU's survival.