Exclusive Opinion, Commentary and Op-ed from today's Top Economists and Public Intellectuals

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Open-Access Economics

Barry Eichengreen May 17, 2013

The brouhaha over Carmen Reinhart’s and Kenneth Rogoff’s article “Growth in a Time of Debt” has raised troubling questions not only about the efficacy of austerity, but also about the reliability of economic analysis. If a flawed study could appear in a prestigious working-paper series, why should anyone trust economic research?
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Learning About Growth from Austerity

Michael Spence May 18, 2013

All countries face complex choices with respect to the timing of austerity, perceived sovereign credit risk, and growth-oriented reforms. Today, advanced countries' previous emphasis on austerity may be giving way to a more balanced approach to boosting economic growth and employment.
Focal Points

The Innovation Revolution

In Project Syndicate’s exclusive series The Innovation Revolution, the world’s leading experts in architecture, industrial design, medical research, economics, and other fields examine the causes and consequences of breakthrough innovations in communications, transport, energy (and energy storage), biotechnology, and similarly crucial sectors.
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More Mind, Matter & Politics commentaries

Harnessing the Remittance Boom

Kanayo F. Nwanze May 18, 2013

In Asia’s developing countries, the importance of remittances – the money that migrant workers send home to their families (many of whom live in poor and remote areas) – is immense. But, while remittances to these countries are five times higher than official aid, their potential economic-development benefits have not been reali…
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A New Deal for Fragile States

Erik Solheim May 16, 2013

Today, roughly one-fifth of the world’s population lives in conflict-affected and fragile states, despite vast sums of money spent aiding such states over the last 50 years. Obviously, the way that international and national partners engage such states must change radically.
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Nationalism, Madness, and Terrorism

Liah Greenfeld May 17, 2013

If we want to understand what drove the Boston Marathon bombing suspects to terrorism, the answer almost certainly does not lie in Dagestan, where the brothers lived before moving to the US, or in Chechnya's two wars in the last 20 years. Instead, the key to the Tsarnaevs’ behavior lies in developments in England 500 years ago.
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The Resistible Fall of Europe: An Interview with George Soros

George Soros May 15, 2013

The politics of the eurozone countries is European politics, and European politics is not serving these countries well. In an extended interview, George Soros explains why – and what should be done about it.
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The Importance of Doing Business

Ana Palacio May 16, 2013

There is much speculation that an independent panel currently reviewing the World Bank’s Doing Business project will recommend outsourcing it, removing its country rankings, or even eliminating it altogether. But gutting or cutting the annual report would be a serious mistake.
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Hugging a Burning Tree

Bjørn Lomborg May 15, 2013

When most people think of renewable energy sources, they imagine solar panels and wind turbines. Globally, however, biomass – humanity’s oldest fuel – makes up 76% of today’s renewable energy and 10% of all energy, and its rising use promises more risk than reward.

Richard Cooper and… May 14

China’s E-Tail Revolution

SHANGHAI – When you think about centers of technological innovation, Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Seoul are probably the firs…
Emmanuel Guerin May 13

Green Sovereign Wealth

PARIS – At the end of 2011, sovereign-wealth funds’ assets under management amounted to $3 trillion, following 237 direct inv…
Kemal Derviş May 10

Balancing the Technocrats

ISTANBUL – A simplistic (actually, naive) view of markets is that they exist almost in a “state of nature,” and that the best…
Dani Rodrik May 10

What Use Are Economists?

CAMBRIDGE – When the stakes are high, it is no surprise that battling political opponents use whatever support they can garne…
Jomo Kwame Sundaram May 10

The Mismeasure of Poverty

ROME – In early 2012, outgoing World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced that the Millennium Development Goal of halving…
Paul De Grauwe May 9

Debt Without Drowning

LONDON – Since the 1970’s, economists have warned that a monetary union could not be sustained without a fiscal union. But th…
Daniel Gros May 8

Europe’s Irrelevant Austerity Debate

BRUSSELS – The most visible symptom of the crisis in the eurozone has been the high and variable risk premiums that its perip…
George Soros and… May 6

Soros versus Sinn: The German Question

"Germany's Choice" by George SorosFRANKFURT – The euro crisis has already transformed the European Union from a voluntary ass…
Bill Gates May 6

The Problem with Poor Countries’ GDP

SEATTLE – Even in good financial times, development aid budgets are hardly overflowing. Government leaders and donors must ma…
Joseph E. Stiglitz May 6

Lives versus Profits

NEW YORK – The United States Supreme Court recently began deliberations in a case that highlights a deeply problematic issue …

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Randall Morck May 15

Oily Dirt

EDMONTON – Calm discussion of the environment nowadays is about as plausible as reasoned dialog…
Christopher Lane May 14

The Distortion of Grief

CHICAGO – How long does it take to mourn the death of a loved one? The question is peculiar, ev…
Bernard Haykel May 14

Syria’s Sectarian Stalemate

PRINCETON – What began in Syria as a revolt against an oppressive regime has evolved into a sec…
Shashi Tharoor May 13

The Resurrection of Congress

NEW DELHI – The overwhelming victory of the Indian National Congress in elections in the import…
Fiorello Provera May 13

The Endangered Arab Christian

BRUSSELS – The recent abductions of Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim and his Greek Or…
Tamara Wittes and… May 10

The Egypt-Israel Peace Test

WASHINGTON, DC – The rocket strikes that a militant Islamist group recently fired from the Egyp…
Aryeh Neier May 9

Less of an Ass

PARIS – “If the law supposes that,” says Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist, “the law is a ass – a idio…
Peter Singer May 9

Why Pay More?

PRINCETON – When Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, went to Ukraine for talks last m…
H. T. Goranson and… May 8

The Curing Machine

VIRGINIA BEACH – Last year, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for a discovery that took 4…
Adeel Malik and… May 8

An Arab Marshall Plan

OXFORD – The wave of revolts that swept across the Arab world two years ago were fueled by dema…