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Project Syndicate's Focal Points bring together commentaries that examine singular topics in global affairs. Whether analyzing significant trends, reflecting upon world-changing events, or examining new or longstanding problems, Focal Points provide readers with a wide range of perspectives on major issues in one easily accessible location.
Most recent
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The Big Bank Battle
Simon Johnson, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and a former chief economist at the IMF, is one of the world’s most influenti…
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Little Big Man
North Korea is engaged in nuclear brinkmanship once again, pledging war with South Korea and touting its potential for missile strikes again…
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Will Japan's Sun Rise?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s bold effort to revive Japan’s stagnant economy through a combination of expansionary monetary and fiscal policie…
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The Iron Lady's Impact
Many have been saddened – and others gladdened – by the passing of Margaret Thatcher, one of the postwar era's most influential, and polariz…
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Falling BRICS?
Once hailed as the future drivers of global economic growth, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are facing a slowdow…
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In Keynes's Footsteps
Robert Skidelsky, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Warwick University and the author of a seminal three-volume biography of John M…
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Ten Years in Iraq
A decade after the US-led invasion of Iraq, many wonder whether a conflict that took more than 150,000 Iraqi and 4,400 American lives, wound…
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New Kids on the Bloc
Determined to stimulate their economies, the United States and the European Union have announced plans to negotiate a bilateral agreement ai…
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The Innovation Revolution
In Project Syndicate’s exclusive series The Innovation Revolution, the world’s leading experts in architecture, industrial design, medical r…
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Zone Defense
After years of austerity, social unrest, and financial volatility, the ECB’s commitment to unlimited bond purchases, together with agreement…
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Italian Ice
Italy’s national elections have failed to produce a clear winner, roiling financial markets and delivering a strong rebuke to the country's …
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Dismal Soothsaying
Economists' spectacular failure to foresee crucial recent developments – including the collapse in the US housing market, the onset of the g…
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Hugo Chávez's Last Word?
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's death will be followed by a struggle to preserve – or erase – his legacy. Will Chávez's “Bolivarian Revol…
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Currency War Drums
Seeking to boost recovery at home, some advanced-country central banks have increased money supply sharply, sending return-hungry investors …
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Hillary's Legacy
Hillary Clinton, the most well-traveled US Secretary of State in history, is expected to resign this month upon her successor's confirmation…
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London Not Calling
The British have always been reluctant Europeans, and now Prime Minister David Cameron wants to renegotiate the terms of the UK’s EU members…
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Voices of Davos 2013
Five years after the global financial crisis erupted, the developed world's slow and uneven recovery is beginning to weigh on developing-cou…
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The Clash of the Capitalisms
Since the 2008 financial crisis, market-based economies in the West have experienced sharp downturns, exacerbating economic and social inequ…
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Breaking the Drug-War Habit
In the last six months, two US states voted to legalize marijuana, and Mexican voters elected a president who wants to end his country's blo…
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Year in Review 2012
In 2012: The Year of the Locusts, Project Syndicate’s special Year in Review, the world’s leading economists, policymakers, political leader…
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New Model Central Banking
After years of aggressive post-crisis monetary policy, academics and politicians are increasingly questioning central banks' underlying econ…
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Asia's Perturbed Peninsula
North Korea's successful rocket launch this month was aimed at boosting Kim Jong-un’s status at home and abroad, while South Korean voters e…
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Havel Lives
December 18 marks the first anniversary of the death of Václav Havel – playwright, dissident, president, giant of the twentieth and twenty-f…
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Japan's Turning Point
On Sunday, Japanese voters returned Shinzo Abe to the position of prime minister, restoring the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party's con…
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Nye on Power
Joseph S. Nye, University Professor at Harvard University, is a former US assistant secretary of defense and chairman of the US National Int…
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Fiscal Cliff Notes
On January 1, 2013, the US is set to fall over the “fiscal cliff,” with automatic tax increases and spending cuts taking effect unless Congr…
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Palestine Goes Global
On Thursday, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to upgrade Palestine’s status to “non-member observer state." How will the vote af…
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America's Pacific Pivot
Last week, during his fourth visit to Asia in as many years, Barack Obama promoted his administration’s "Pacific pivot," intended to offset …
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The Great Debt Debate
In the wake of the global economic crisis, mounting public debt, whether stemming from fiscal stimulus or bank bailouts, has forced governme…
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China in Transition
China has unveiled its new leadership, including President-designate Xi Jinping, who will run the country for the next decade. At home, the …
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Four More Years for Obama
Last week, US voters handed incumbent President Barack Obama a decisive victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. What do the election…
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America Votes
On Tuesday, US voters will elect their next president, either incumbent Barack Obama or Republican challenger Mitt Romney. What will the ele…
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Sticking with the Banking Union
The eurozone's sovereign-debt crisis both reflects and reinforces a banking crisis, most glaringly in Spain, but also in Italy, Ireland, and…
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The Future of Work
In the last 50 years, globalization, shifting demographic patterns, and technological innovation have redefined labor. Will advanced countri…
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Deciphering Disarmament
With Iran's nuclear program raising fears about its ambitions, and political instability roiling the Korean Peninsula, nuclear disarmament r…
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Europe's Nobel Project
On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded this year's peace prize to the European Union, citing its six-decade-long contribution "to …
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Rogoff & Shiller: Nobel Buzz
The 2012 Nobel Prize in economics will be announced next week. Speculation centers around Kenneth Rogoff and Robert Shiller. Rogoff, who rec…
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Zombie Growth
As uncertainty weighs down the global economy, policymakers are promising that controversial policies – such as strict austerity and aggress…
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Michael Spence on Reinventing Growth
Today's seismic shifts in the global economy have left advanced and developing countries alike struggling to restore – or sustain – economic…
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Romney Revealed
In less than two months, US voters will decide whether Barack Obama deserves four more years in the White House. If Mitt Romney wins, what w…
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Crippled Capitalism
Four years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the global economy remains mired in low growth and high unemployment. As the income gap be…
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The Inflation Fixation
Since the onset of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have pursued unprecedented mo…
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Electing Islam
The Arab Spring has brought political Islam to power across the Middle East and North Africa. Moderate Islamist parties have won elections i…
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Are the French Toast?
French President François Hollande’s domestic economic measures have led some to warn that France’s international standing may be at risk. I…
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Making Waves in the South China Sea
China is once again provoking tensions with its Southeast Asian neighbors over territorial claims in the strategically vital South China Sea…
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Stiglitz on America
Like all crises, the 2008 financial crisis was a moment of truth, not least for conventional wisdom about the US economy. Joseph Stiglitz wa…
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Europe’s Immigration Dilemma
Europe's debt crisis and widespread austerity have fueled mounting social tension, reflected in rising anti-immigrant violence and growing p…
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Milton Friedman at 100
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman was one of the most original – and controversial – economists of the twentieth century. On the 100th annivers…
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The World According to Obama
As the US presidential election campaign heats up, Republican challenger Mitt Romney is increasingly contesting President Barack Obama’s for…
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Asia's Tipping Point?
With economic shocks from the West now buffeting Asia's economies, and growing tensions – from the South China Sea to the Hindu Kush – jeopa…
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The Roubini Factor
For Nouriel Roubini, one of the few economists who foresaw the 2008 financial meltdown, the global economy may be about to go from bad to wo…
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Back to Mexico's Future?
Mexico's election of Enrique Peña Nieto as President has restored to power the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which controlled the count…
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Free Trade in Troubled Times
Since the onset of the global economic crisis, efforts to implement a broad multilateral trade scheme have been on hold. Indeed, amid accusa…
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Europe's Crisis Goes Global
As economies throughout the post-2008 developed world slumped, emerging markets proved resilient. But now Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis is …
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Central Banks in the Firing Line
As recession takes hold in Europe, the US recovery falters, and emerging-market growth weakens, central bankers - especially at the Fed and …
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Soros on Europe
Over the past year, as the eurozone crisis deepened, George Soros's voice has stood out. On the eve of a critical EU summit, this selection …
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The Big Bank Theory
Credit-rating downgrades for the world’s biggest banks suggest that, four years after the financial crisis hit, they remain a major source o…
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The Road to Rio+20
This week, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development brings together world leaders and representatives of business and civil society, to …
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Would Eurobonds Work?
As Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis deepens, many argue that only pooling eurozone members' debt by issuing Eurobonds can save the single curr…
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Will India's Boom Go Bust?
India has been lauded as the developing world's "other" economic miracle, with record growth lifting millions out of poverty, despite the gl…
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Austerity and its Discontents
Austerity is always a bitter pill, and one that a growing chorus of political and business leaders, economists, and voters is refusing to sw…
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America's Precarious Recovery
As the US election campaign heats up, the most important issue for voters will most likely be whether the economy is recovering fast enough.…
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The Euro at Bay
The euro crisis - at a simmer for the past two years - has seemingly come to a boil. Elections in Greece, France, and elsewhere have challen…
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China's Scandalous Politics
Two months ago, the Chinese Communist Party purged Bo Xilai, a rising political star. The Bo affair has exposed widespread corruption and de…
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The Iranian (Time) Bomb
As international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program resume in Baghdad this week, talk of war, so prominent earlier this spring,…
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NATO in a New World
This week, NATO will hold its summit in Chicago – the first since the Alliance's Libyan incursion and the confirmation of plans to draw down…
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The Greek Precipice
Greece's tragedy – and Europe's – has entered a new act. Popular upheaval and political stalemate have raised severe doubts about the countr…
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Germany vs. Europe
The European project may be disintegrating. Increasingly, Germany's role as European leader is being challenged, and France's rejection of a…
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The Big Two: A New Bipolarism?
This week, with the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the relationship between the world's two great powers comes under scrutiny. Pr…
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North Korea's Nuclear Blunder
North Korea has suffered a significant embarrassment with the failure of its latest missile launch. But the regime's pursuit of nuclear weap…
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World Bank Succession
Who should be the World Bank's next president, and what should the Bank's priorities be? Project Syndicate contributors, including Jeffrey S…
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The Age of Inequality
Inequality has become a crucial topic for everyone from economists, central bankers, and bond traders to the Occupy movement and the politic…
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Syria's Agony
Syria is burning, while the rest of the world debates what can and should be done to stop the bloodshed. Project Syndicate’s foreign-pol…
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When China Slows
After decades of hyperkinetic growth, China’s economy is slowing. What will this mean for the world economy, and for China? Project Syndic…
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Russia's Putin Problem
Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency has incited a new wave of popular opposition. As demands for real democratic reforms escal…
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Fukushima Anniversary
One year after Japan’s triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown, Project Syndicate contributors examine the country's re…
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