Political Economy

There is a road open for China involving controlled inflation that would lead to re-balancing, both domestically and internationally, which has some uncertainties. These must be compared to those of sustaining the export-led growth model,…

The Fed feels politically constrained due to its own machinations in the past and the likelihood it will engage in a muscular easing policy if and when the US economy double dips. It does not want to come under attack for this Euro bank…

What Sinn is making plain is that Greece’s balance of payments problems would not go away if Greece were to remain in the euro zone. And this would mean more indebtedness and further transfers to Greece down the line when they get into…

The European Central Bank was once known for its focus on price stability. Since the global economic crisis, however, its role has extended to saving banks and sovereign countries. This column argues that such a move has badly harmed the…

Great graphic from the Economist. Note that 7 of the 10 are government-run. Amazing WalMart employs almost as many as the People’s Liberation Army. Gives new meaning to the “Human Wave Theory.”

Below are two messages from Franklin Roosevelt, proposing the Social Security program and signing it into law. The main points to note in the text deal with the purpose and funding of Social Security and unemployment insurance i.e. the why…

At issue was the planned increase in the euro rescue fund to 780 billion euros from the present 440 billion.

Greece needs to default too. The right thing to have happen is for Greece to default in a hard restructuring as part of a comprehensive credible plan. The goal is to right the ship by getting all of the biggest debtors within the Maastricht…

In the US, there is a heated debate about America’s government pension scheme Social Security. The Republican frontrunner for President Rick Perry has called it a ‘Ponzi scheme’, for which he was derided by the previous Republican…

Implicit in my post explaining that Germany is preparing for Greek bankruptcy is the view amongst European policy makers that default does not equal euro zone exit. I think I should reiterate this because a lot of people are acting like an…