http://www.project-syndicate.org/about_us/rss en 03:48:19 18-Mar-2010 webmaster@project-syndicate.org http://www.interglacial.com/rss/about.html http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen14/1 The Greek crisis shows that the EU is still only halfway toward creating a viable monetary union. Unless it creates a proper emergency financing mechanism – and pushes for political integration required to make such a mechanism feasible – the next crisis will make this one look like a walk in the park. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen13/1 The great strength of Barack Obama's economic policies - in health care, fiscal stimulus, and stabilizing the banking system - has been not to allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good. But, with the time for crisis management coming to a close, he now needs to aim higher if he is to fulfill his promise of a more economically just society. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen12/1 When South Korea takes over the G-20 chairmanship from the United Kingdom on January 1, it will gain considerable agenda-setting power over global economic policy. At the top of its agenda should be financial-sector reform, greater progress on global rebalancing, and institutional efforts to boost the G-20's legitimacy and strengthen the influence of emerging-market members. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen11/1 China is making a big push to encourage greater international use of its currency, the renminbi, and is implicitly targeting 2020 as the date by which it should become one of the world's leading currencies. That is an ambitious goal, but US history suggests that it is not impossible to achieve. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen10/1 Mark Twain, the nineteenth-century American author and humorist, once responded to accounts of his ill health by writing that “reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” He might have been speaking about the dollar: for the moment, the patient is stable, external symptoms notwithstanding, though there will be grounds for worry if he doesn’t commit to a healthier lifestyle. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen9/1 Other than schadenfreude, emerging-market countries have brought little to the table when it comes to reforming global finance. But indifference is not a tenable strategy, because financial markets are too integrated – and will remain so, like it or not – for whatever rules are established not to profoundly affect emerging markets as well. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen8/1 The IMF has been one of the few beneficiaries of the global economic crisis. But the crisis will not last forever, and the IMF’s critics have not gone away, so the Fund must define its role now, while it still has the world's sympathetic ear. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen7/1 Now that the “green shoots” of recovery have withered, the debate over fiscal stimulus is back. But, with the US, Europe, and Japan already awash in debt, a further boost to aggregate demand can come from only one place: emerging markets like China. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen6/1 Since 2000, Asian countries, traumatized by the IMF's handling of the 1997-98 financial crisis, have sought to establish a regional alternative to the Fund. But, despite recent progress, making this vision a reality requires further bold thinking. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen5/1 Two views have emerged about what caused the current financial and economic crisis, but both camps agree that preventing future crises similar to this one therefore requires resolving the problem of global imbalances. Whether there is a permanent reduction in global imbalances will depend mainly on decisions taken outside the US – and specifically in countries like China. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/eichengreen4/1 Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People’s Bank of China, made a splash prior to the recent G-20 summit by arguing that the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights should replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. But, for the SDR to become a true international currency, the IMF would have to become more like a global central bank and international lender of last resort.