Political Economy

from BBH colleague Win Thin We’re not sure why there is even any debate in the market about private sector burden sharing with regards to peripheral debt. Of course there will be haircuts involved. Looking at the current euro zone problems…

This video is based on the cover story from this week's Economist.  See the written version here.

UPDATE: 12 Nov 2010 - More press accounts are confirming that, indeed, a bailout is in the offing. The British have signed up for it as well despite insisting that this is a euro zone problem. But they needed to get on side to show…

This is a cross-post from New Deal 2.0. On the eve of President Obama’s arrival to the G20 talks in South Korea, a growing chorus of voices is questioning the direction of U.S. monetary policy. Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang…

Ireland was the first country to offer a blanket guarantee to it’s banks’ depositors. I welcomed this move as a necessary step to restore confidence. However, there are two problems associated with it. As Willem Buiter has…

The BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders released this nice little 3-minute video which explains why the so-called currency wars are something you should care about. For me, it is quite significant that South Korea of all countries,…

Frederick Sheehan is the author of Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession (McGraw-Hill, 2009). "igher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase…

China reported an October trade surplus of $27 billion Wednesday. This is a very big number and not one likely to soothe anger directed at China. It will be very hard for China credibly to argue that it is trying to contribute to global…

I am on-board with Roach's sentiments. This is certainly what I take away from the U.S. policy mix. Now, a lot of economists of the Keynesian variety are telling us that the problems in the US are cyclical i.e. an aggregate demand (AD)…

by Annaly Capital Management One of the goals of QE is to raise asset prices, as we have been told by Chairman Bernanke and Brian Sack among others, which should stimulate wealth-effect consumption. Leaving aside all of the obvious hazards…