Shang-Jin Wei, NEW YORK – Following a week of financial-market turbulence, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss was forced to scrap her plan to abolish the 45% top income-tax rate for high earners. This U-turn, an attempt to counter a stunning market sell-off that caused the pound to crash and saw the Bank of England launch a massive […]
Dambisa Moyo, NEW YORK – US inflation remained stubbornly high in August, with prices increasing at an annual rate of 8.3%. While this higher-than-expected increase has disappointed some economists, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s commitment to raising interest rates – which he emphasized in his recent Jackson Hole speech – will surely dent US inflation by squeezing demand. And […]
Robert J. Barro, CAMBRIDGE – When considering what caused the sharp increase in the US inflation rate from late 2020 to today, my initial instinct was to focus on aggressive monetary policy, following Milton Friedman’s famous dictum that, “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” But while monetary policy is important, aggressive fiscal policy may have been more […]
Jason Furman, CAMBRIDGE – Recent price- and wage-growth data make it increasingly clear that the US economy’s underlying inflation rate is at least 4% and more likely to be rising than falling. Although the Federal Reserve has acted forcefully in recent months to contain inflation, unfortunately it will need to stick to its plan of […]
Robert J. Barro, CAMBRIDGE – The latest figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) show that the US economy has experienced two consecutive quarters of negative real (inflation-adjusted) GDP growth. That accords with a popular definition of a recession. But economists have noted that any official declaration of a US recession must come instead from the National Bureau […]
Hippolyte Fofack, CAIRO – The unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia – which some have dubbed economic weapons of mass destruction – have globalized the Ukraine crisis, exacerbating market uncertainty and potentially derailing the post-pandemic recovery. Across Europe and elsewhere, growth forecasts for 2022 have been revised down sharply. Beyond dampening output and causing already high inflation to […]
Nouriel Roubini, NEW YORK – Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we must consider the economic and financial consequences of this massive historic development. The Ukraine war is not just another minor, globally inconsequential conflict of the kind seen in recent decades. This is a major escalation of […]
Edward N. Wolff, NEW YORK – Anxiety about inflation, among citizens and politicians alike, has been peaking recently. In the United States, the year-on-year increase in consumer prices reached 7.5% in January, the highest rate since February 1982. If people’s incomes increase by less than the rate of inflation, their real incomes decline, and they cannot afford […]
Eric Posner, CHICAGO – This week, the US Supreme Court begins its 2021 term amid a buzz of speculation that it has lost the public’s confidence. A recent Gallup poll finds that only 40% of the public approves of the way the Court handles its job – the lowest level since the survey began in 2000 (when […]
Willem H. Buiter, NEW YORK – How much slack is there in the US economy? In economics, the “gap version” of Okun’s law holds that a one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a two-point decline in the real (inflation-adjusted) GDP growth rate below its potential. The gap matters, because the closer the […]
SAP Young Professionals Program extends digital skills build to Lusophone Africa LUANDA, Angola, 17 June 2021 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- SAP’s flagship digital skills build initiative the Young Professionals Program is celebrating its first-ever graduates from Lusophone Africa. At a virtual graduation ceremony attended by Constantin Zelenty, Deputy Head of Mission German Embassy Angola, Cathy Smith, Managing […]
Isabella M. Weber, AMHERST – The fiscal expansion in the United States in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is like nothing seen outside of wartime. Further large-scale public spending will be needed to rebuild needed infrastructure, tackle climate change, and create jobs. But some prominent economists are warning that government spending on such an extraordinary scale could fuel […]
J. Bradford DeLong, BERKELEY – The financial and economic news in the United States lately has been dominated by concerns about inflation. “Runaway inflation is the biggest risk facing investors, Leuthold’s Jim Paulsen warns,” according to the cable news channel CNBC. As a potential hedge against inflation, “Bitcoin’s time to shine is fast approaching,” reports Fortune’s Robert Hackett. […]