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To many observers, America’s “weaponization” of the dollar against China, the European Union, and others looks like yet another example of President Donald Trump abusing his power. The question is whether anyone can – or will – do anything about it.
When the celebrations in Berlin 30 years ago brought down the curtain on the Cold War and on communism in Europe, Western-style liberal democracy seemed to have emerged victorious. But the rise of new (and older) political forces in post-communist Europe has left the triumphalist narrative in tatters.
Although public support for more ambitious climate policies and an expanded safety net is growing in developed countries, implementing such measures means that taxes will go up. The question is whose, and how much political power they wield.
Developing countries with varying political traditions and natural endowments cannot be expected to achieve sustained economic growth in the same way. Yet history suggests that there are at least minimum principles that all developing countries should embrace.
As many observers grimly predicted, US President Donald Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds in northern Syria has set off a chain of events that no one seems able to control. Both Syria and the wider Middle East are now up for grabs.
By the end of the century, Africa will be home to 40% of humanity, as well as many of the fastest-growing megacities in the world. But can the continent become a source of strength and stability within the world economy?
Ever since advanced economies renounced fiscal stimulus in favor of austerity following the 2008 financial crisis, central banks have been the sole guardians of growth and macroeconomic stability. But now they are running out of firepower – as well as ideas.
French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a new round of diplomacy with the Kremlin after years of a deep freeze caused by Russia’s actions in Ukraine. With new leadership in both the European Union and Ukraine, is Russia ready to come back in from the cold?
Many believe that cutting greenhouse-gas emissions won’t happen fast enough to prevent catastrophic climate change. But can we really engineer our way out of existential trouble, or is global warming an irreducibly political challenge requiring far-reaching social and economic change?
Argentina’s rapid slide into another currency and foreign-debt crisis has all but assured that President Mauricio Macri will not win a second term next month. But given that his Peronist opponents are the authors of Argentina’s troubles, a way out of the current crisis may be hard to find.
Financial investors like to say that when the tide goes out, one discovers who has been swimming naked. And a decade after the deepest financial crisis in nearly 80 years triggered the Great Recession, journalists, policymakers, and other academics are still pointing fingers at the economics profession.
Throwing both caution and democratic norms to the wind, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has moved to block any parliamentary challenge to his Brexit agenda. Regardless of whether the country suffers a “hard” Brexit, its politics may already have been irreparably damaged.
There is much to be said for major US CEOs’ announcement that they will abandon shareholder primacy for a more socially and environmentally conscious corporate-governance model. But, as always, actions will speak louder than words.
Even many of the wealthiest Americans would agree that the United States needs to overhaul its tax policies to restore a sense of social justice. But, notes Edoardo Campanella, Future of the World Fellow at IE University's Center for the Governance of Change, such reforms would not be enough to restart the engines of social mobility and promote greater equality of opportunity.
Higher nominal wages for low-paid workers can boost real earnings, increase consumer spending, and help make housing more affordable. And insofar as raising the minimum would increase companies’ wage bill, it would create a stronger incentive to replace labor with capital, which could lay the foundation for renewed productivity growth.
