Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Euro Area Imbalances Are a Symptom of the Broader Global Imbalances

by Rebecca Wilder Euro Area Imbalances Are a Symptom of the Broader Global Imbalances Every year I travel to Germany to visit my in-laws, which is where I am now. Given the extra time on my hands, I’ve now mulled over a June 2012 NY Times opinion piece by Gunnar Beck. Beck displays an interesting […]

Germany the Euro winner?

Update: This post from 6/28 has been re-posted today 7/04 as I believe it was lost in last Thursday’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the health care ACA. Robert Waldmann has also subsequently expressed an opinion on how Germany should proceed. Re-posted:The NYT carries a data filled op-ed by Gunnar Beck, and takes […]

Exchange rate pegs getting a new look?

This article at Voxeu reminded me that exchange rate pegs might come back in vogue. Voxeu has an article on the “trilemma” of ’emerging’ economies: Do sterilised interventions allow countries a way around the fundamental trilemma of international finance by providing them with a means of systematically affecting exchange rates independent of their monetary policies? […]

EA Balance of Payments: the Current Account

by Rebecca Wilder EA Balance of Payments: the Current Account I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on the balance of payments flows within the Euro Area (EA). Given the complexity of the balance of payments, there are too many angles to tackle in one post. Therefore, spanning the next week I will dedicate […]

Baby Steps

By Rebecca Wilder Baby Steps In the FT today, Martin Wolf discusses the symbiotic relationship of global creditors and debtors. According to the September 2011 IMF World Economic Outlook, China ran the largest current account surplus in 2007, while the US ran the largest current account deficit (in $). Well, if this creditor-debtor relationship is […]

Beyond tax cuts and stimulus

Marty Hart-Landsberg in Monthly Review states the issue of trade policy has a larger context than national economies. Reader juan adds his commentary to Marty Hart-Landsberg quotes (lifted from comments and slightly editied for readability): Most importantly, foreign capital now plays a leading role in the Chinese economy, especially in manufacturing.7 Its activity has transformed […]

The Great Trade Collapse…VoxEU

Richard Baldwin at VoxEU introduces a new book on “great trade collapse” before the WTO meeting occurring shortly. Re-posted with attribution: The Great Trade Collapse World trade experienced a sudden, severe and synchronised collapse in late 2008 – the sharpest in recorded history and deepest since WWII. VoxEU today posts a new Ebook – written […]