PARIS – At the end of 2011, sovereign-wealth funds’ assets under management amounted to $3 trillion, following 237 direct investments worth …

SEATTLE – Even in good financial times, development aid budgets are hardly overflowing. Government leaders and donors must make hard decisio…

LONDON – In 2012, the Pew Research Center found that 85% of self-described middle-class adults in the United States believe that it is more …

WASHINGTON, DC – While some observers argue that the key lesson of the eurozone’s baptism by fire is that greater fiscal and banking integra…

WASHINGTON, DC – Much of the hype surrounding last month’s meeting in Moscow of G-20 finance ministers and central bankers was dedicated to …

TILBURG – Every major economic crisis has its victims. Some bounce back, while others experience long-lasting, even permanent, damage. When …

PRINCETON – In a provocative recent paper, Robert Gordon of Northwestern University concludes that the rate of technological progress has sl…

WASHINGTON, DC – Recently, a group of officials gathered to plot a new trade strategy. It was a typical trade-policy discussion: the partici…

PALO ALTO – Since World War II’s end, the US dollar has been used to invoice most global trade, serving as the intermediary currency for cle…

WASHINGTON, DC – Since the global financial crisis, “banking” has practically become a swear word. But, while banks undoubtedly have the cap…

TILBURG – Following his re-election, US President Barack Obama almost immediately turned his attention to reining in America’s rising nation…

NEW YORK – The United States Federal Reserve’s recent decision to launch a third round of “quantitative easing” has revived accusations by B…

LIMA – The 2008 financial crisis highlighted the profound importance of finance for the globalized economy. But 2.5 billion people worldwide…

BEIJING – Ever since the integration of emerging markets into the global economy began in the early 1990’s, three striking trends have emerg…

BERLIN – The G-20’s decision in November 2008 not to let any systemically relevant bank perish may have seemed wise at the time, given the t…

JEDDAH – As the Arab world undergoes fundamental changes, its leaders must adapt fast or risk popular uprisings – a lesson that has not been…

BEIJING – Until the Industrial Revolution, the world was quite flat in terms of per capita income. But then fortunes rapidly diverged, with …

GENEVA – At the upcoming Rio+20 summit in Brazil, more than 135 heads of state and government, and up to 50,000 participants, including busi…

CAMBRIDGE – The question that still underlies much thinking about economic development is this: What can we do to kick-start economic growth…

CAMBRIDGE – Despite many successes in creating a more integrated and stable global economy, a new report by the United Nations Secretary-Gen…

NEW DELHI ­– The last two decades were the era of hypermarkets – massive superstores that could dazzle customers with an astonishing array o…

PARIS – Events in 2012 so far have confirmed a new global dissymmetry. Caught between unprecedented financial insecurity and a somber econom…

PARIS – In the twentieth century, the American dream of a middle-class life inspired the world. Now, in the twenty-first, we are moving at h…

ITHACA – With 2012 underway, it is worth reflecting on how a decade of strong economic growth in emerging markets led to last year’s resound…

DAVOS – The World Economic Forum’s annual gathering is normally little more than a toast to the benefits of increasing global GDP, trade, an…