|
|
Finance and Foreign Policy
With many economists now pointing to a looming recession, spending constraints are likely to further complicate the foreign policy options of the next U.S. president. So far, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) are giving few signs as to how they would alter their priorities. McCain, in the first presidential debate, suggested a spending freeze on all but defense and entitlement programs. Obama said in an interview he might have to delay plans to double foreign assistance..
|
|
By CFR, USA.
|
Macro Economic Policy Resource.
|
|
|
|
Grasping 'Radical' Economic Change
market declines in the United States, and cascading losses in other major markets around the world, many analysts said the financial crisis of 2008 had devolved into a full-fledged panic. David M. Rubenstein, the cofounder and managing director of the Carlyle Group, a leading private equity firm, discusses what must be done to mitigate the fear he says has "overtaken everything.".
|
|
By CFR, USA.
|
Macro Economic Policy Resource.
|
| Zimbabwe's Economic Implosion When inflation gets really bad, it becomes hyper-inflation. Yet even that word seems insufficient to describe whats happening in Zimbabwe. In May 2006, when inflation rates surpassed 1,000 percent, people quipped that the countrys smallest bill, a $500 note, was more cost effective as toilet paper, given that toilet paper was selling for $417not per roll, but per square (NYT). |
By CFR,USA.
|
Macro Economic Policy Resource.
|
|
|
Considering China’s Currency
The valuation of China’s currency has animated economists for over a decade. After years of pressure from Washington, China floated its currency in 2005, abandoning a strict peg to the U.S. dollar and opting, rather, for an exchange rate pegged to a basket of international currencies. This move created a modicum of wiggle room for the yuan, but U.S.
|
|
By CFR, USA.
|
Macro Economic Policy Resource.
|
|
|
Defeating Japanese Deflation
After years of crippling deflation, the Japanese economy may finally have some spring in its step. The Bank of Japan, timidly but significantly, is raising interest rates. The bank has nudged (Marketwatch) the country’s benchmark rate twice since last summer, bringing it to 0.5 percent after having held it at zero for six straight years. By Lee Hudson Teslik.
|
|
By CFR, USA.
|
Macro Economic Policy Resource.
|
|
|
| 