With Europes single currency on the precipice, the necessity of greater fiscal and economic coordination is clear, though this will take time. Even so, more can be done to smooth the fiscal and econo...
As senior Chinese leaders are purged and retired provincial officials publicly call for Politburo members to be removed, it has become clear that the country is at a crossroads. China’s future no lon...
Policymakers in Europe seem to be surprised at the ongoing bank run in Greece (and the nascent run in Spain). They should not be: anyone familiar with emerging-market meltdowns knows that a financial...
The critics of foreign aid are wrong. A growing flood of data shows that death rates in the poorest countries are falling sharply, and for a simple reason: aid aimed at improving health care works.
Vladimir Putin’s new presidential term is just beginning, but it increasingly looks like the beginning of the end. Whenever Russia’s people pour into the streets en masse, as they currently are doing...
The failure to achieve multilateral trade liberalization by concluding the Doha Round means that the world lost the gains from trade that a successful treaty would have brought. But that is hardly th...
For many years, the food industry has encouraged consumers to believe that mixing carbohydrates and fats is healthy, and that sugar can be part of a balanced diet. But these maxims are at the root of...
Recently, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, referring to a possible Greek exit from the eurozone, told the European Parliament that there is no “Plan B.” Barroso’s statem...
For the second time in less than four years, Asia is being hit with a major external demand shock. This time it is from Europe, with financial and trade linkages leaving Asia highly vulnerable to a r...
The European project has clearly failed to achieve what French political leaders have wanted from the beginning: instead of a sense of amity an unity in Europe, there is conflict. And, with German Ch...
Everything about Egypt’s revolution has been unexpected, and the first-round results in the country’s first-ever competitive presidential election are no different. As Mohamed Morsi prepares to face ...
Once again, Europe is watching an Irish referendum with bated breath. Despite the economic pain that Ireland has endured since the financial crisis began, the Irish people understand that they need t...
In an era in which conventional models of finance and corporate governance are being called into question, perhaps it is time to revisit the alternative approach taken by economic cooperatives. In ad...
Europe is again learning the hard way that austerity applied in the teeth of a major financial crisis leads to depression. That was a key lesson of Herbert Hoovers policies in the US in the early 193...
With many citizens in the US and Europe now struggling, political leaders face a daunting task: adopt credible medium- and long-term reforms without derailing the economy in the short term. They have...
China is now engaged in bitter disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, and Japan over islands in the South China Sea. China’s claims are so expansive that many Asians are wondering what will satisfy ...
An environment of crisis is forcing Europeans to make choices that they did not want to envisage, much less confront, in quieter times. Depending on how they choose, recent developments could mark th...
Many of the growth strategies tried around the world have turned out to have built-in limitations or decelerators – what one might call elements of unsustainability. Avoiding serious damage and diffi...
The crushing defeat of US Senator Richard Lugar, in a Tea Party-supported campaign of shocking mindlessness, has set alarm bells ringing in capitals around the world. Perhaps most disturbingly, Lugar...
Recent political developments, including the defeat of incumbent governments in France and Greece, suggest that the public’s tolerance for economic policies that do not reduce unemployment has fallen...
Many American presidents have successfully redesigned talks with adversaries in bold new ways to strengthen US national security without war. Such boldness is now needed in the negotiations over Iran...
At this time of year, at graduation ceremonies in America and elsewhere, those about to leave university often hear some final words of advice before receiving their diplomas. For those contemplating...
Cubas dissidents want many things, such as regime change, a free economy, and lots of other things too disruptive to mention. But they are careful not to do anything that smacks of protest, and they ...
Turkey’s emergence as an influential power is being tested as never before by the crisis in Syria and the continuing showdown with Iran over its nuclear policy. Why has Turkey risen to regional promi...
The creation of the euro just over a decade ago was a courageous and unique experiment. Today, the outcome – whether the euro will survive, and whether the Europeans are right to keep it – is very mu...
Many now believe that the euro will not survive a failed political class in Greece or escalating levels of unemployment in Spain, and that its demise will take down the EU as well. But, while the fut...
Nowadays, many are asking whether China is about to become the world’s next superpower. But the more sensible question is not whether China will replace the US, but whether it will start to acquire s...
The immediate topic on the agenda at NATOs upcoming summit in Chicago will be getting the Alliances forces out of Afghanistan. But the longer-term subject will be getting as many countries as possibl...
If China’s national imperative today is reform, the greatest threat to that goal is the massive influence and institutionalized corruption of the country’s entrenched elites. That is why the Chinese ...
Even if a way out of the diplomatic debacle involving Chinese human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng is at hand, much about the case remains troubling. In particular, despite more than three decades o...
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