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The Arab world has witnessed at least one big Brexit-like event every decade since 1948 – and these political, economic, and social ruptures never seem to heal. The impact of these self-inflicted disasters is now painfully evident, and ongoing street protests in several countries suggest that a moment of reckoning may have arrived.
The old central-bank playbook of slashing interest rates to spur consumption, investment, and employment has become less effective since the 2008 financial crisis. Yet without effective tools and the public's confidence, central banks will be unable to rise to the occasion when the next recession arrives.
French President Emmanuel Macron has drawn criticism for describing NATO as brain dead and pursuing a rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But now that a wayward America could abandon the continent at any moment, Macron's argument for European defense autonomy is difficult to refute.
LONDON – August 9, 2017, is the tenth anniversary of the decision by the French bank BNP Paribas to freeze some $2.2 billion worth of money-market funds. Those of us who were active in financial markets at the time remember that event as the beginning of the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Many economists and financial observers argue that we are still living with the consequences of that crisis, and with the forces that incited it. This is partly true. Many developed economies still have in place unconventional monetary policies such as quantitative easing, and both productivity and real (inflation-adjusted) wage growth appear to be mostly stagnant.
But it is important to put these developments in perspective. Many people, including the Queen of England in November 2008, still ask: “Why did no one see it coming?” In fact, many financial observers did warn that housing prices in the United States were rising untenably, especially given the lack of domestic personal savings among US consumers.
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