Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Harvard University and recipient of the 2011 Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics, was the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2003. The co-author of This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, his new book, The Curse of Cash, will be released in August 2016.
The world is awash in paper currency, with major country central banks pumping out hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth each year, mainly in very large denomination notes such as the $100 bill. And … read more
The US government should not operate like a bank or a hedge fund, loading up on short-term debt to fund long-term projects. With net US government debt already running at 82% of national income, the f… read more
The real lunacy of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union was not that British leaders dared to ask voters to weigh the benefits of membership against the immigration pressures it presents. Rather,… read more
However November’s US presidential election turns out, one proposal that will likely live on is the introduction of a financial transaction tax. But a properly designed levy can be no more than a smal… read more
For some time, rich countries have argued that it is in everyone’s collective interest to demonetize gold. But there is a good case to be made that a shift in emerging markets toward accumulating gold… read more
The rise of anti-trade populism in the US presidential election campaign portends a dangerous retreat from the country's role in world affairs. In the name of reducing inequality at home, candidates i… read more
The phenomenal market volatility of the past year owes much to genuine risks and uncertainties about factors such as Chinese growth, European banks, and the oil glut. Yet, from a macroeconomic perspec… read more
It might seem odd that a country running a $600 billion trade surplus in 2015 should be worried about currency weakness. But a combination of factors, including slowing economic growth and a gradual r… read more
Until recently, the usual thinking among macroeconomists has been that short-term weather fluctuations don’t matter much for economic activity. But recent economic research, bolstered by an exceptiona… read more
