Economy

How to Make Japan Great Again

2020-10-18

If Japans new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, wants to emerge from the shadow cast by his predecessor, he will need to devise a compelling message

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The Coming Equity Shortage

2020-10-13

Firms that manage to survive until an effective COVID-19 vaccine is widely available will have a bright future but weak balance sheets. Innovative new private-equity funds, modeled on US special-purpose acquisition companies, could provide much-needed cap

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Capitalists and Socialists of the World, Unite!

2020-10-05

Although it can be politically expedient to draw a thick line between capitalist decentralization and socialist central planning, the truth is that these two systems have converged on many occasions...

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White-Collar Crime, No Punishment

2020-10-01

Even if the latest scandals in banking reveal nothing new about the financial industrys ethical standards, they have put a spotlight on a bigger emerging problem the complicity of law enforcement agencies in white-collar crime.

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Can Lebanon’s Fires Be Put Out?

2020-09-05

The blasts that ripped through Beirut’s historic port could hardly have come at a worse time, as the city struggles with the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis...

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How Strong Infrastructure Governance Can End Waste in Public Investment

2020-09-05

Countries waste on average about 1/3 of their infrastructure spending due to inefficiencies.

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A Healthy Improvement on GDP

2020-08-25

Many of the failures of GDP as a measure of economic performance are well known. Policymakers in search of an alternative should recognize the far-reaching power of healthy life expectancy as a measure

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Is there such a thing as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ recession?

2020-08-24

How can the economic outlook appear so bleak, while economists remain upbeat? Not all recessions affect people equally.

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The Robot Question

2020-08-12

Although robots that can perform human labor will put downward pressure on wages in the short term, they also will increase the rate of profit, encouraging more investment and a recovery in the wage rate....

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COVID Coin?

2020-08-08

The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the long-term shift away from cash, and monetary authorities risk falling behind. A recent report from the G30 argues that if central banks want to shape the outcome, they need to start thinking fast.

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Fiscal Policies for a Transformed World

2020-07-21

Policymakers should tackle the rising poverty and inequality, as well as the structural weaknesses exposed by the crisis to better prepare for future shocks.

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Trust Funds for All

2020-07-15

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many flaws in advanced economies, not least the fact that inequality can be deadly. The case for giving all citizens a capital endowment – reflecting both their inalienable dignity and society’s return on its public inves

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After the Liberal International Order

2020-07-08

If Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump in November, the question he will face is not whether to restore the liberal international order. It is whether the US can work with an inner core of allies to promote democracy and human rights while cooperating with

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A Stronger Recovery Through Better Accounting

2020-07-01

Given that the COVID-19 crisis demands unprecedented levels of stimulus spending, policymakers should use the occasion to adopt a more flexible form...

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Saudi Arabia Isn’t Just Raising Taxes

2020-06-13

For autocratic regimes, increasing taxes could put their survival at risk.

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Destroying Lebanon to Save It

2020-06-13

Conservative Republicans have unveiled a report that could have terrible consequences for a country already facing ruin.

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The Wrath of Caesar

2020-06-11

The Makhlouf affair may accelerate a generalized collapse of Syrias economy and effective control over the country.

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You May Pay More at the Pump, as OPEC+ Cuts Oil Production

2020-06-11

The intervention of President Trump, worried by the decimation of comparatively high cost U.S. shale oil production companies, forced President Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to back off...

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Preventing an Emerging-Market Meltdown

2020-06-11

Emerging markets today account for more than two-fifths of global GDP measured at market exchange rates, and nearly three-fifths after adjusting for differences in purchasing power.

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The End of Europe’s Chinese Dream

2020-06-02

The COVID-19 crisis has pushed Europeans strategic thinking about China – already shifting because of three developments – past the tipping point. After years of pursuing closer bilateral economic ties, Europeans suddenly realize that they have become dan

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Can corruption risks be mitigated without hindering governments’ COVID-19 response?

2020-05-31

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to increase corruption risks and practices that contribute to illicit financial flows, and may also introduce new risks.

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What Should We Be Preparing For?

2020-05-30

In most emerging and developing countries, COVID-19 is causing an economic hurricane. It looks increasingly like a Category 5, but the international community and many national governments prepared for a tropical storm.

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At a Breaking Point

2020-05-27

Lebanons politicians know they must save their country from an implosion in order to save themselves.

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