By Simon Usherwood | September 20, 2018 The informal meeting of EU leaders in Salzburg on September 19 and 20 was not intended to be primarily about the UK or Brexit. The EU faces serious challenges around internal security and migration that come much higher up the list of priorities for most member states. And… Read More »
By Richard Holden | September 13, 2018 There’s a meme around official interest rates since the financial crisis, and it goes like this. Central banks have already cut them to nearly zero (or actually zero) but advanced economies are still languishing. Therefore cutting them further won’t achieve much. There are a number of problems with… Read More »
By Christina Fattore | September 7, 2018 The announcement last month that the U.S. and Mexico had reached an agreement to replace NAFTA without Canada surprised trade experts around the globe. A deadline of Aug. 31 was set for the Canadians to join or be left out in the cold – and hit with fresh… Read More »
By Jeffrey Kucik | September 5, 2018 President Donald Trump recently threatened to pull the United States out of the World Trade Organization “if they don’t shape up.” His argument is that the organization treats its single-largest investor unfairly, claiming that the U.S. loses “almost all of the lawsuits in the WTO.” Is Trump correct… Read More »
By Shea Karssing | September 2, 2018 The UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has published statistics the UK’s energy production and consumption. The department released four key publications under the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2018: ● Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2018 ● UK Energy in Brief ●… Read More »
The national flags of Canada, from left, the U.S. and Mexico, are lit by stage lights before a news conference at the start of North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations in Washington. But Canada’s status is now unsure after the U.S. and Mexico announced progress on a bilateral deal. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin Drew Fagan |… Read More »
By Benjamin J. Cohen | August 22, 2018 Venezuela recently announced one of the most dramatic currency reforms in history in a move that essentially devalues the bolivar by about 95 percent. Its ironically named bolivar fuerte, meaning “strong,” first introduced 10 years ago, will be replaced by a new “sovereign” version at a conversion… Read More »
In 138 BC China took its first step towards global connectivity with the establishment of the historical Silk Road. Zhang Qian was sent by Emperor Wudi to Central Asia to establish trade relationships. His historic missions enabled China to make contact with the outposts of Hellenic civilisation established by Alexander the Great. These efforts enabled… Read More »
Greece nearly crashed out of the eurozone in 2015. Bill Anastasiou / Shutterstock.com By Dimitrios Syrrakos | August 20, 2018 After nine years of unprecedented peacetime economic hardship, Greece exits its IMF bailout programme on August 20. So ends a series of three bailouts organised by the so-called troika of the IMF, European Central Bank… Read More »
By Richard Holden, UNSW | August 16, 2018 As American baseball legend Yogi Berra once supposedly quipped, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Three years ago the crisis was in Greece, now it’s Turkey. Another European summer and another European economic crisis. It’s tempting to say that being in Europe is all the two situations… Read More »