Politics

Recent economic and geopolitical events should be seen through a longer-term strategic lens. During the Cold War, we lived in a bipolar world dominated by the US and its Allies on one side and the Soviets and their vassal states on the…

Weekend developments will dominate the first part of the week ahead. Two developments stand out. First, China announced a doubling of the permissible band from 1.0% to 2.0% around the daily fix. The PBOC deliberately and preemptively…

By Doug French, Contributing Editor, Casey Research Figuring out what’s going on in Ukraine is like following the plot of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Bloomberg reports Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster as “Moscow-backed,” while Al Jazeera calls…

US data have been better European periphery market access continues to improve Dollar weakness may be China-related Gold continues to get safe haven bid China’s slowing more likely to be abrupt Ukraine has become a military issue;…

Talk that Russia could be behind the bulk of the more than $100 bln drop in the Federal Reserve's custody holdings for foreign central banks, in the week ending Wednesday has many observers scratching their heads. This would represent about…

By WIn Thin and Ilan Solot 1) The annexation of Crimea by Russia represents an important escalation of the crisis 2) China has re-emerged as a concern for markets 3) Turkish political tensions are rising again ahead of March 30 local…

The Chamber of Deputies approved the electoral reform bill that Renzi and Berlusconi had negotiated before Renzi squeezed out Letta to become Prime Minister of Italy. The bill goes to the Senate now.

By Win Thin and Ilan Solot The Crimean crisis threatens to escalate again this week. Russian forces in Crimea have been increased and they are consolidating their control of Crimea. This involves neutralizing Ukrainian bases in Crimea and…

The effectiveness of US sanctions against Russia are almost toothless if they are unilateral. The conditions that the IMF will likely require to put Ukraine on more sustainable fiscal footing will mean economic hardship and may do more to…

By Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, Amir Kermani, James Kwak, Todd Mitton This post was originally published at Vox. Political connections affect economic outcomes in emerging markets. This column discusses new evidence showing that…