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Otmar Issing

Otmar Issing

16 commentaries

Otmar Issing, former chief economist and member of the board of the European Central Bank, is Honorary President of the Center for Financial Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt.

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  1. Can the ECB Escape Its Own Trap?
    issing16_Andreas RentzGetty Images_christinelagarde Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

    Can the ECB Escape Its Own Trap?

    Jun 7, 2023 Otmar Issing examines the policy dilemma facing central banks as they try to shrink their bloated balance sheets.

  2. The ECB’s Political Overreach
    issing15_Boris Roesslerpicture alliance via Getty Images_ecb Boris Roessler/picture alliance via Getty Images

    The ECB’s Political Overreach

    Jul 27, 2022 Otmar Issing thinks a new asset-purchase program will push the central bank further into a domain where it doesn't belong.

  3. The High Stakes of Rising Inflation
    issing14_OLIVIER DOULIERYAFP via Getty Images_fed reserve inflation OLIVIER DOULIERYAFP via Getty Images

    The High Stakes of Rising Inflation

    Nov 30, 2021 Otmar Issing warns that growing pressure on prices is a global phenomenon, posing a crucial test for central banks.

  4. The Return of Inflation?
    issing13_Getty Images_inflation Getty Images

    The Return of Inflation?

    Jul 16, 2021 Otmar Issing worries that central banks are ignoring potential new sources of upward price pressure and uncertainty.

  5. The MMT Myth
    issing12_matthiashaas_getty Images_printing money mmt Matthias Haas/Getty Images

    The MMT Myth

    Nov 3, 2020 Otmar Issing explains why Modern Monetary Theory amounts to (poisonous) old wine in a new bottle.

  1. frankel165_CHRISTINE OLSSONTTTT NEWS AGENCYAFP via Getty Images_nobelwinners Christine Olsson/News Agency/AFP via Getty Images

    What Causes Prosperity?

    Jeffrey Frankel shows how this year's Nobel Prize-winning economists tackled a once-insoluble problem.
  2. ignatieff7_nocopyright

    Ukraine’s Post-Colonial Future

    Michael Ignatieff believes that what is at stake in the war with Russia is the fate of the last European imperialism.
  3. obstfeld6_Anthony KwanGetty Images_tariffs Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

    Donald Trump’s Tariffs Would Hurt US Workers and Businesses

    Maurice Obstfeld shows why targeting an overall reduction in imports would reduce America’s real wages and national income.
  4. kenewendo6_ LUIS TATOAFP via Getty Images_green energy africa LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images

    Africa’s Green Future Starts with Debt Relief

    Bogolo Kenewendo & Patrick Njoroge propose large-scale relief to ensure that the continent’s countries can invest in climate action.
  5. james159_getty images-inflation Getty Images

    Diane Coyle on economic progress, tech monopolies, artificial intelligence, and more

    Diane Coyle advocates a new public philosophy that rejects viewing “government” and “market” as opposites, explains why time-use data must shape technological development, warns that policymakers are devising AI regulation in a thick conceptual fog, and more.
  6. banga4_PATRICK FORTAFP via Getty Images_rainforest PATRICK FORT/AFP via Getty Images)

    A New Paradigm for Standing Forests

    Ajay Banga, et al.

    While forest carbon markets have created new revenue streams, they usually reward only those countries, communities, or project developers who are focused on reducing their emissions from deforestation. Something more is needed to tie financial rewards to forests that aren’t under immediate threat.

    present a new mechanism to generate financial returns for countries that prevent deforestation.
  7. woods59_ Brandon BellGetty Images_labor Brandon Bell/Getty Images

    Working-Class Antiheroes

    Ngaire Woods advocates using domestic labor legislation that supports unionization – not tariffs – to protect workers.
  8. op_brown2_TIERNEY CROSSAFP via Getty Images_IMFworldbank Tierney Cross/AFP via Getty Images

    Toward a Fifth World Order

    Gordon Brown & Mohamed A. El-Erian

    Historically, massive revisions to the international system have come about only after a complete breakdown of the previous order. With today's global institutions sorely in need of reform, can the transition to a new order be achieved without incurring the costs and pain that such a breakdown would entail?

    explain why multilateral institutions urgently need to be reformed, and why the G20 is the right forum for it.
  9. kruger76_Justin SullivanGetty Images_shipping Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    US Tariffs Will Not Bring Back Jobs from China

    Michael R. Strain decries both parties’ reluctance to prepare Americans for the employment opportunities of today and tomorrow.

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