The European Commission's probe of alleged manipulation of crude oil benchmark prices has now gone beyond just the major oil companies to include even energy trading firms and price-reporting agencies. Following the Libor scandal last year, the markets really did not need yet another trillion-dollar scandal.  Read more

The worsening economic situation in Egypt over the last few months have led many to blame the 2011 revolution for derailing a seemingly stable economy. Given the right reforms however, Egypt can still restore economic and financial stability; and fulfil the promises set out earlier by the revolution.  Read more

Based on the latest data, Abenomics appears to be, for the moment at least, achieving its stated objectives. Yet for its recent success, Abenomics only addresses the symptoms, and not the real cause, of Japan’s long-term problems.   Read more

The risk of conflict in the South China Sea is significant. China claims it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the territory, which is believed to sit atop extensive reserves of oil and gas. The claims are however fiercely contest by regional players such as Taiwan and the Philippines. As diplomacy is not likely to be a sufficient means of quelling rising tensions, the United States must make hard choices and put forth the effort necessary to ensure the South China Sea remains peaceful in 2013 and beyond.   Read more

On paper, Russian President Vladimir Putin is fully committed to the privatisation of state assets. In May last year, he signed a decree calling for the sale of all state holdings in firms – outside of the defence and energy industries – by 2016. But since then, the pace of Russian privatisation has been languid at best. Part of the problem has been opposition from avowed statists, who count a close ally and adviser to Putin among their ranks.  Read more

 Pirate vessels pose a severe threat to poor coastal fishing communities around the world, threatening ecosystems and committing human rights abuses. But elements of the global fishing industry are finding the means to fight back with the support of charitable organisations.  Read more

The US Supreme Court recently began deliberations in a case that will determine whether human genes may be patented. But we already know that permitting gene patents results in inefficiencies – including monopoly profits and a failure to maximize the use of knowledge – that impede the pace of innovation.  Read more

The downturn beginning in 2008 triggered a macroeconomic meltdown that would disrupt all markets, domestic and global. Demand for petroleum diminished just as new technologies were beginning to gush out oil and gas in never-before-seen volumes, creating a perfect storm that would depress prices. Now that oil prices have rebounded, is the worst behind us?   Read more

Since injecting more than $2 trillion into the financial system through three rounds of quantitative easing, the U.S. Federal Reserve is gradually realising that their experiment to kick-start the economy with near-zero interest rates has failed. Contemplating an exit strategy however may prove to be far more difficult; as loose monetary policy over the last five years has boosted leverage and risk-taking in financial markets; increasing the risk of a credit and asset bubble as large, if not larger, than the previous one.  Read more

Neither the U.S., with all of its military muscle and more than 40 percent of annual military expenditures worldwide, nor China, with its rising economic clout and military modernization, can effectively contain globalized terrorism on their own. Yet if they work together, the two countries could rally the international community into effective multi-polar counter-terrorism.  Read more

Myanmar’s economic potential has been vastly enhanced by its access to foreign resources — in the form of new trading opportunities, the inflow of foreign investment and elevated levels of bilateral and multilateral assistance. The country’s opening represents a new chapter in Asian development but Myanmar’s golden promise will ultimately depend on what success it has with political and economic reforms at home.

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Over the past week or so, a series of market shocks managed to throw investor confidence worldwide off balance. Although individually, none of these tremors were relatively big deals, collectively, they shook both investors and economists – and may ultimately impact policy, going forward.  Read more

The funeral of former British PM Margaret Thatcher saw a nation divided in hatred and love for one of the most iconic world leaders of modern times. While, Inner London today is one of the richest parts of the entire European Union, in the North of England there are towns still with persistently high levels of unemployment due to Thatcher’s past policies.  Read more

Until recently, Tunisia was considered to be a minor league and relatively underexplored venue in Africa's rapidly expanding oil & gas scene. This situation has quickly changed with new bid rounds and forced relinquishments creating an opportunity for new companies to come in.  Read more

A large proportion of Asian countries are currently at the top of the working-age population hump. For them, the window of opportunity to prepare for an older population will close within the next decade. But how can Asian countries take advantage of this window of opportunity? They can start by reforming retirement income provision systems, especially given the retreat of traditional family support.  Read more

The pharmaceutical industry has for years consolidated profits by advocating a stronger and ever inequitable global intellectual-property regime. The Indian Supreme Court’s refusal to uphold the patent on a blockbuster cancer drug, though only a small reversal for the Big Pharmas, sets a good precedent for other developing countries and frees up money and resources that can contribute to growth and poverty reduction efforts.   Read more

Despite persistent deflation and tepid economic growth, things are looking up for Japan under the new Prime Minister. Shinzo Abe’s Keynesian-inspired reform programme is essentially a replay of what Takahashi Korekiyo achieved in the 1930s, when Japan escaped the Great Depression with a triple-barrelled blast of monetary, fiscal and structural stimulus.   Read more

With many of the world’s major emerging economies now moving towards a stagflation-lite situation, where inflation sticky at high levels but with growth decelerating or stagnant, can leaders find the correct policy response?

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Following the 2008 financial crisis, it is almost inconceivable to think that America today represents the greatest hope for the global economy. Yet, with Europe struggling to restore growth, China facing a hard landing if critical structural reforms are postponed, and emerging markets turning more and more towards state capitalism, the U.S. is in the best relative shape among the world’s largest economies – even if this fact in itself presents risks.  Read more

Since announcing the Cyprus bailout on March 25, the European Union, and by de facto Germany, have been keen to emphasise the uniqueness of Nicosia’s situation – downplaying a repeat for any other eurozone nation. The question, of course, is whether foreign depositors in European banks will accept that Cyprus was one of a kind. Indeed, we must ask ourselves why the Germans would have created this risk in the first place.  Read more

In his inaugural address last Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke about the "Chinese Dream", in which the mainland will restore its role as the largest economy worldwide. But unlike their predecessors, Xi and his fellow leaders can no longer rely on double-digit growth, or China’s old growth models. What China truly needs is a two-phase political transition, economic and financial reforms, and a geostrategic recalibration in Asia.  Read more

Expansionary central bank policies have, in recent months, helped investors shrug off troubling political uncertainties in order to spark a recovery in global financial markets. Nonetheless, some have called the market rally “one of the most unloved” in history – as any fresh geopolitical shock or political breakdown could negate central bank efforts’; and send financial markets once more down a spiral.  Read more

As domestic issues continue to weigh heavily on the minds of American and Israeli leaders, the foundations for their alliance have gradually withered ahead of Barack Obama’s first visit to Israel as president this week. There has therefore been a very real, if somewhat subtle shift, in the U.S.-Israeli relationship. Neither party is what it once was; and in the end, each has its own fate, linked by history to each other but no longer united.  Read more

At less than 0.25 percent of the eurozone's GDP, Cyprus’s economy has long been thought to be too small to pose a systemic threat to the region. Yet, with its latest bailout package, agreed upon by EU officials on Saturday, the tiny nation is now at the centre of an existential storm: where countries are surrendering their sovereignty in favour of solvency.  Read more

When examining the Venezuelan economy, there is no doubt that the poor did rather better under Chavez's regime than they had done under, what Chavez termed, "the rotten elites" that had ruled the country in the two decades prior. However, Chavez’s legacy, to any economically literate person, is to have bequeathed Venezuelans an economy that could hardly be in more of a mess.   Read more

Despite recent cuts in Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy, the CAP still consumes 38 percent of the EU budget and sustains a romantic vision of agriculture that is out of kilter with the highly technological requirements of modern farming.  Read more

Fascism had its roots in Europe, during the 1920s and 1930s, in massive economic failures in which the financial elites failed to recognize the political consequences of unemployment. While history may not repeat itself so neatly, the emergence of new political parties speaking for the unemployed and the newly poor could lead to governments who enclose their economies from the world and manage their performance through directive and manipulation.  Read more

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s saw Russian embark on a strategic retreat from the Middle East, with a dramatic decline in both its presence and influence. But recent events, particularly in Syria and Libya, suggest that Russia may be regaining its past standing – not just in the region, but also as a major global player.  Read more

The European Union Emissions Trading System was the world’s first large emissions trading scheme, which required industrial emitters to purchase a permit for each ton of CO₂ emissions. However, with permits’ prices plummeting in the midst of Europe’s economic slowdown, a new global strategy is now required to combat climate change. Each region of the world should introduce a tax on CO₂ emissions that starts low today and increases gradually and predictably in the future.  Read more

Although the latest FDI figures by China’s Ministry of Commerce may appear disappointing, the truth is there has been an intensifying relocation of investments from China’s 1^st and 2^nd tier cities to other parts of China and across Southeast Asia. Asia’s new FDI “deal” is a regional win-win story – whereby emerging Asia can benefit from the low-cost advantages that China once enjoyed, while China shifts from manufacturing to high-value services.  Read more

Globalization seems to be looked on as an unmitigated “good” by economists. Unfortunately, economists seem to be guided by their badly flawed models; they miss real-world problems. In particular, they miss the point that the world is finite. We don’t have infinite resources, or unlimited ability to handle excess pollution. So we are setting up a “solution” that is at best temporary.  Read more

The ongoing depreciation of currencies in advanced economies has forced several emerging countries to empty their foreign reserves in order to maintain exchange rates. Is this policy sustainable in the long-term; and why are countries willing to fix their exchange rates despite the risk of their reserves running dry?  Read more

While media attention at the recent G-20 summit focused on the foreign exchange market and the possibility of ‘currency wars’, something far more important was developing in Moscow: The real news from the G-20 meeting is the formal beginning of a process that could very well lead to the largest substantial change in the international corporate tax system in almost a century.  Read more

As U.S. and European markets continue to sputter amid the global economic uncertainty, emerging market bonds in Asia have been quietly gaining favour as alternative safe havens – with relatively strong security, yet attractive yields. Experts however are worried whether a massive surge of money may end in a crash; though, for the moment at least, Asian sovereign bonds are showing surprising resilience.  Read more

Russia presently holds the world's largest proven reserves of natural gas and continually alternates with Saudi Arabia as the top oil producer. Throughout history, the country's energy sector periodically has strengthened and weakened. Managing this cycle has been a centerpiece of Russia's domestic and foreign policy since czarist times. This historical burden now rests on Vladimir Putin's regime.  Read more

Despite recent rhetoric by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Japanese economy remains in dire straits – with ‘Abenomics’ simply the past LDP neo-Keynesian policies on steroids. The time is right for Japan to redistribute its reserves back to its people. Not utilizing the reserves now is like not opening the umbrella in your hand when you are in a downpour.  Read more

In the past, a growing gap between what Egypt’s governing elites delivered and the population’s legitimate aspirations would have been addressed by imposing further repression. The new Egypt will not allow this. The empowerment of ordinary Egyptians has fundamentally changed things. Egypt’s political elites do not have unlimited time, and current economic trends are making the need to act increasingly urgent.  Read more

Unlike recent military interventions in Mali or Libya, the West and its Middle Eastern partners have chosen to pursue a middle-ground approach in Syria by providing logistical aid to the various Syrian rebel factions, rather than intervening directly. This method of ‘partial intervention’ is likely to have long-term consequences for foreign powers, and particularly for Saudi Arabia.

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The opening of the once-reclusive country has been met with a flood of interest from the international community. Downtown Yangon is teeming with foreigners keen to get a piece of the rapidly expanding economic pie. But teething problems are visible as Myanmar still lacks a strong regulatory framework to manage its transition.  Read more

The Mediterranean has joined the shale game, but as most of Europe's Mediterranean countries drag their feet, all eyes are on Israel, Turkey, and Algeria. For Israel, it will be a slow road without the majors. For Algeria, it's full speed ahead, in theory—but the foreign interest is just dabbling for now due to a lack of shale infrastructure. For Turkey, the situation is more promising thanks to a renewed interest by the majors and a near-perfect blend of good governance and attractive fiscals.  Read more

Oil prices are expected to remain high this year, especially with the high cost of extraction involved in obtaining more tight oil and oil from other unconventional sources. If the cost of oil continues to rise, what further damage will be done to consumers, businesses and economies?  Read more

The history of developing countries suggests that most countries fail in the reform and adjustment process precisely because the sectors of the economy, not to mention individuals, that have benefitted from the distortions are powerful enough to block any attempt to eliminate those distortions. But it is certain that not everyone in China is confident that Beijing will be able to force through the reforms that are widely accepted as necessary without a serious fight, as reports suggest that nearly 6 trillion dollars left the economy illicitly over the last decade.  Read more

Unlike the old days, the threat of a looming currency war will not be directly related to trade imbalances and balance-of-payments crises. Rather, the main driver has been major central banks’ pursuit of experimental measures – in order to compensate for policy inadequacies and political dysfunction elsewhere.  Read more

Financial repression results from policies that allow governments to fund their borrowing through imposing costs on others – increasingly seen across global financial markets from Japan’s asset purchase programme to the European Central Bank’s outright market transactions. By artificially lowering the cost of debt below what would prevail in a free market, quantitative easing has been called a “stealthy default” by PIMCO, one of the largest bond investors in the world.   Read more

The pace of land grabbing in the developing world is accelerating fast. Foreign governments, financial institutions and corporate giants have combined to create a neo-colonial expansion, which has disastrous consequences for the local populations, as well as the environment.  Read more

In the West, North Korea’s recent missile launch has been framed as still another example of nuclear blackmail. The launch, the counter-productive international sanctions, the mounting nuclear threats and Kim Jong-un’s call for “radical turn” suggest a new diplomatic opportunity for Washington and Beijing alike and it should be seized now.  Read more

As the European Union mulls another year of economic stagnation and the United States a year of lacklustre and uncertain economic recovery, will emerging markets take the lead in global economic recovery?   Read more

The ascent to power of the Democratic Party of Japan marked the end of Japan's one-party state, dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party since 1955. However, the DPJ was unable to address the challenges Japan faced, was internally unstable, and spent scarce political clout to support a controversial retail sales tax increase – ensuring the subsequent return of the LDP and Shinzo Abe in the 2012 general election. Given a second chance, how will the LDP fare?

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For close to three years, the primary focus of European leaders has been to solve the region’s banking and sovereign debt crisis, which have caused a serious weakening of the economy and created massive unemployment in some countries. The same leaders however faces a larger problem in 2013: how to manage the social unrest across the continent as a direct consequence to the [mis]handling of the economic crisis.  Read more

According to an IMF study released late last year, there is now strong evidence that China has been over-investing significantly over the last decade – leading to sustained economic growth rates at the expense of a suppressed consumption base. But even as China embarks on a new era of economic rebalancing, any attempt to reduce its reliance on investment-led growth may cause severe economic repercussion, while doing nothing may also lead to further financial fragility.  Read more

The internet has already revolutionised the working environment, the music industry, the media and shopping habits. It now appears likely that it is on the cusp of transforming the world of higher education with radical consequences for the future of higher education in both the developing and the first world.  Read more

India has been labelled the weakest nation in the so-called BRIC alliance, evidenced by foreign investors forsaking the country for more promising emerging markets. Restrictive policies and slow infrastructure investment saw India grow at one of its slowest pace in 2012 and credit ratings agencies have signalled that India could be downgraded to junk status if nothing is done to restore its economic health. Overall, 2012 has been rough in terms of economic and political developments but are there better days ahead?   Read more

The political paralysis over economic growth in several developed nations have effectively forced central banks to embark on a shift from their conventional monetary policies. But, the best that central banks can do for now is to buy time, while waiting for other policymaking entities to get their act together; and the new paradigm shift may present the greater risk of loss of credibility and political independence for institutions that are critical to well-managed economies.  Read more

For more than a year now, Cyprus has been shut out of international capital markets after its banks suffered huge losses from their exposure to Greece. And while its finance ministry claimed on Tuesday that they had secured enough money to cover its immediate financial needs, the country’s long-term finance future remains in doubt – unless it can formalise an agreement to secure a credit line of up to 17.5 billion euros from its euro partners and the IMF.  Read more

America has now suffered around 30 shooting massacres over the past 30 years, including this year’s deadly dozen; each a gut-wrenching tragedy for many families. Today, America’s real freedoms depend on sane public policy and the bloodbath in Newtown is the latest reminder that it is time to stop feeding the US’ gun frenzy.   Read more

Since reaching an all-time high of $705 during trading on September 21, Apple Inc’s stock price fell to  $529 on December 10 before recovering to $539 on December 12. Are Apple’s shares really sliding towards a ‘Death Cross’, as some analysts have claimed, or is there a pragmatic explanation behind the drop in stock price of the world’s most valuable company?  Read more

The big news in the last few weeks has been the relatively positive economic data suggesting that Beijing could be in for a rebound. However, the “relief” data tell us nothing about the health of the underlying economy. In fact, growth rates in China will continue to slow dramatically in the next few years and if there are temporary lulls, as there must be, these do not represent any sort of bottoming out at all.   Read more

After a hard-fought campaign, it seems that not much has changed in American politics. Rather, the main cause for celebration has been that America has avoided policies that would have pushed it closer to recession and increased inequality further.  Read more

The American states of Colorado and Washington have gone beyond the decriminalising policies in place in European countries like the Netherlands and Portugal by becoming the first modern jurisdictions to legalise marijuana – with far-reaching legal, social and economic repercussions.  Read more

As Washington hunts ill-defined al-Qaeda groups in the Middle East and Africa, and concerns itself with Iran's eventual nuclear potential, it has a much more pressing problem at home: Its energy grid is vulnerable to anyone with basic weapons and know-how.  Read more

Barcelona (in Catalonia) and Gaza (in Palestinian territories) may be roughly 3,000km apart, yet the independence movements rising from both regions share similar roots; The idea of romantic nationalism has driven their inhabitants to challenge the legitimacy of their ruling state, demanding liberation and the right to their own authentic nationalism.  Read more

In a momentous verdict last week, BP was ordered to pay the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history for its role in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. However, while polluters are increasingly being held accountable for their crimes in the developed world, many global companies continue to enjoy relative impunity for environmental damage caused in poorer countries: as exhibited by the lack of reparation in the Niger Delta.  Read more

Liberia is a nation rich with natural resources including iron ore, gold, diamonds, natural rubber, vast forest for logging and timber harvesting, and vast agriculture land for ensuring food security. Yet like many of their African counterparts, who are equally rich in natural resources; corruption, global volatility and the “Dutch Disease” have left the country under the spell of the Resource Curse – turning Liberia from one of the fastest growing economies in the world, to one of the poorest and underdeveloped.  Read more

What are the odds of the renminbi displacing the dollar, and does China want the yuan to become an international reserve currency? Besides the fact that being a major reserve currency would require the complete liberalisation of the capital account and a flexible financial system largely independent of government control, with clear and enforceable rules, it would also put China’s economy at the mercy of countries that want to turbo-charge growth by running large trade surpluses. Beijing, it appears, isn’t eager to accept any of these conditions.  Read more

In its latest World Energy Outlook released last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted, among other things, that the U.S. would overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer by 2020; and become a net oil exporter around 2030. This forecast however may be unrealistically optimistic, as oil prices must rise at an alarming rate to meet the increasingly expensive production cost.  Read more

François Hollande’s rise to power in France was supposed to herald the re-emergence of Left-wing politics in Europe. But with the French Socialist Party now falling in line with the neoliberal austerity agenda, other ‘Genuine Left’ parties across Europe have begun to gain greater prominence, particularly in Greece where austerity policies remain deeply unpopular.  Read more

Asia, as a whole, has witnessed tremendous growth in the past decades and city-states such as Hong Kong and Singapore have since joined the ranks of advanced economies. Asian giants are not only home to the largest number of millionaires in the world; Asian millionaires are also becoming increasingly wealthier. With US and European economics stuck in doldrums, could it be Asia’s turn to shine now?   Read more

Historically, many of the world’s major financial crises have been, in some way, connected to the cost or supply of oil. Though numerous countries around the world are now attempting to reduce their oil consumption, the end of “cheap oil” will continue to have ramifications on financial & energy security, particularly in countries such as Greece, Spain, Egypt and India.  Read more

Pakistan’s nuclear program is a source of national pride and identity. But with concerns growing over the security of its nuclear weapons – especially the threat of theft by terrorists – can Pakistan still maintain the growth of its nuclear program, without provoking action from the U.S. and, most notably, India?  Read more

The world is now in the midst of two financial crises: On the one hand, the sovereign debt crisis has rightfully been hogging the headlines as well the attentions of government policymakers; Yet at the same time, declining access to credit for small-to-medium-sized households and businesses has eroded societies’ integrity, productive capabilities, and ability to maintain living standards. With governments doing little to address the private credit debacle, has ‘Main Street’ been left to fend for itself?  Read more

With a shift in economic strategy comes a radical change in the relationship between underlying growth variables and their impacts on growth. Instead of making predictions and estimations extrapolated from previous forecasts – the problem with most development and growth models – a better and more meaningful understanding of China, and other emerging or international markets for that matter, can be achieved if research and analyses were conducted in a grounded and sound manner.  Read more

Over the last decade, the Australian economy has experienced a boom on the back of the rise of Asia – with Chinese demand for Australian commodities in particular spurring economic growth. Yet, with emerging market growth in Asia having now slowed down, Australia’s abundance of resources is transforming from being a blessing to a curse.   Read more

Oil and energy prices have fluctuated so erratically in the last several years, affected by the constant threat of war and exacerbated by the global economic turmoil. As energy prices continue on its long-term upward trend, many wonder if affordable energy is really just a myth.   Read more

The Japanese economy crashed in the late 1980s and annual growth has since averaged 0.8 percent – despite the Bank of Japan’s zero interest rate strategy. For two decades, the Japanese economy was characterised by meagre growth, unemployment and persistent deflation, forcing businesses in Japan to slash costs and add value to their production. Comparisons have been made, increasingly, between America’s stagnant economic growth and Japan’s lost decade, and in this light, it is worthwhile revisiting the lessons from Japan.   Read more

As part of China’s adjustment process, it is a virtual certainty that domestic growth will slow significantly for many years. However, many analysts argue that by boosting China’s export competitiveness abroad, a weaker RMB will provide some relief from the sharp expected slowdown associated with rebalancing. But such claims are invalid: China’s export competitiveness will deteriorate no matter what Beijing does to the currency. Why?   Read more

Energy and taxes have come up as important topics in this year’s race to the White House. From energy independence to tax breaks for the oil industry, affordable gas prices and environmental protection – these are the issues that can and will affect the vote. But with Big Oil working behind the scenes and funding U.S. politicians, the industry’s influence on politics cannot be underestimated.  Read more

Higher oil prices tend to cause numerous social and economic problems. However, some countries have been able to cover up these problems through a variety of financial techniques. But with oil prices continuing to climb, can the economy continue to adapt to these prices?  Read more

In the aftermath of its disastrous invasion of Iraq back in 2003, the U.S. has learnt critical lessons on the consequences of intervention, which has led to the emergence of a new foreign policy doctrine based on 'reality'. As demonstrated by its actions in Libya, Syria and possibly Iran, the U.S. now appears to have entered a period in which it has moved from military domination to more subtle manipulation; and more importantly, they have begun to allow events to take their course.  Read more

In order to argue that we will not see a sharp slowdown in Chinese growth, it is not enough to claim that some expert or institution has predicted that Chinese growth will not slowdown. Neither can we hold on to the argument that China has enough savings in its coffers to bail itself out of a crisis. Nor can we assert that Beijing leaders cannot tolerate growth below 8 percent, so of course growth will not drop below 8 percent. As greater evidence for the bear camp surfaces, China bulls need stronger justifications for their positions or risk losing credibility.  Read more

Although European leaders are scrambling to avoid a cataclysmic economic fallout, Asia is now eyeing Europe’s prospects with nervousness and suspicion. Asian markets, in particular China, are increasingly frustrated and impatient with the lack of clear policy and rescue direction from European leaders. With Asian exports declining amid a global demand slump, what impact could a eurozone breakup have on Asia? 

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Apart from the problems stemming from the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. economy is now also being weighed down by little monopolies, or quasi-monopolies, which reduce economic efficiency, slow economic growth, and reduce the average income of every U.S. household. Can the U.S. government once again unleash the “curse” of competition on businesses, in order to revitalise the economy?  Read more

The need to address America's fiscal situation has just been magnified by a warning from Moody’s that the US could lose its top credit rating if Congress fails to make progress on medium-term fiscal reforms. But why didn't the imposition of a "fiscal cliff" in 2011 succeed in focusing US politicians' minds?  Read more

Forty years after China and Japan first commenced normalized diplomatic relations, a group of islands – known as Diaoyu and Senkaku respectively – is now threatening to reignite past rivalries, including both nations’ claims to geopolitical power in the region. Behind the dispute lies several considerations, including handling internal and international political relationships, which  both countries must now resolve in order to avoid a military conflict.  Read more

The ties between energy consumption, economic growth and the labour market are now closer than ever before. But as countries begin to hit their peak in any one of these categories, can this relationship be changed in order to ensure a more sustainable economy?  Read more

As rebels attempt to regroup in advance of a new strategy to overpower Assad, and Western powers try to start from scratch with a new rebel formation that is presumably devoid of Salafi Jihadists, the US is calling on third party, non-state actors to arm the rebels in order to avoid becoming embroiled in a geopolitically sensitive conflict just ahead of presidential elections. As attentions turn to the chaos breaking out across the Middle East and North Africa (and even further afield), what chance do the rebels have of pushing Assad to his limits?   Read more

China is already the world’s second largest economy but its currency, the renminbi, is barely traded internationally. Unlike reserve currencies such as the US dollar, and despite China's emerging position as a global economic powerhouse, the Chinese currency is hardly used in international trade and scarcely held by foreigners. This is gradually changing but the City of London is probably being optimistic if it thinks it can grab a significant portion of that trade.

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At a difficult time for the world economy, Russia, the world's sixth largest – and third fastest growing major – economy has opened up for trade. After 19 years of negotiation, Russia finally received membership to the World Trade Organisation on August 23^rd 2012 – opening up major new trading opportunities in the process. What are some of the impact and opportunities emanating from Russia’s WTO membership?  Read more

Worldwide, political leaders are putting off the economic reforms needed to avoid a painful, if not catastrophic, endgame. But, as everyone kicks the can down the road, the can is getting heavier and, in the major emerging markets and advanced economies alike, is quickly approaching a brick wall.  Read more

An Israeli invasion of Iran could provoke a spiralling in oil prices with catastrophic consequences for the world economy, as well as unpredictable political repercussions throughout the Middle East. Yet, Israel continues its dangerous game of brinkmanship.  Read more

What is the global energy situation today? Is our energy future one of falling prices and plentiful supply or should we prepare for declining supply and sky-high prices? To give readers a real understanding of where we are, Oilprice.com was fortunate enough to speak with the world's leading energy economist, Professor James Hamilton.   Read more

According to the latest polls, public support for the U.S. Congress is now at a record low, with few believing that its members can overcome a prolonged period Of congressional paralysis & polarization . What if members of the US Congress, now returning from their summer recess, were to receive a “back to school” memorandum from concerned citizens? At a minimum, it should call on Congress and the president to converge on a multi-prong, multi-year policy initiative that makes simultaneous advances in six critical areas.  Read more

Over the past decade, very few countries can claim to have matched the economic success of those of the BRICs. Ever since the term ‘BRIC’ was born in 2001, the bloc has grown rapidly – now accounting for almost a quarter of the world’s total economic output. Nevertheless, as the eurozone crisis has shown, the bloc is not immune to a weakening global economy; and the outlook for the BRICs is now uncertain. Have the BRIC nations lost their momentum?  

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Saudi Arabia has gone on the offensive against Iran to protect its interests.  Their involvement in Syria is the first battle in what is going to be a long bloody conflict that will know no frontiers or limits.  Read more

What is the biggest fear hanging over China? Slowing external demand? Could it be the imbalances in its domestic economy? Or the country’s real estate bubble? While these threats are real and challenging nonetheless, debt is China’s most worrying, not to mention understated, problem. As we saw very clearly in the last two years in Europe, debt crises are often downplayed and sneak up on us when we least expect it.    Read more

Higher oil prices may be a drag on oil importing economies, but exceedingly low oil prices can also be a signal of recession. If oil prices and the rate of oil supply growth keeps ratcheting downward, another global depression could occur, one that may be even more severe to 2008-2009.  Read more

Our generation urgently needs to spur another era of great social change. This time, we must act to save the planet from a human-induced environmental catastrophe. Sustainable development is a generational challenge, not a short-term task, and governments, civil society, universities and even corporations have the potential to become agents of change.   Read more

Recent economic data has shown that China is slowing down. The question is: Should we attempt to revive growth in the world’s second largest economy? Perhaps not. As it is, China bulls have been late in recognising the unhealthy implications of China’s imbalances and, more often than not, have failed to understand that rebalancing cannot occur unless accompanied by a rise in real interest rates and a subsequent fall in investment and growth levels. 

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READER SUBMISSION – As America’s largest trading partner, Canada’s economic fortunes are intimately tied to those of the United States. Yet thanks to a largely domestic-focused economic action plan, Canada has demonstrated remarkable economic resilience to the global financial turmoil.  Read more

By 2014, Scottish voters may have the chance to end the country’s 307-year intermarriage with England and the United Kingdom at a referendum for independence. The growing belief right is now that Scotland has the economic capacity to go it alone, particularly as they have an abundance of oil and natural gas reserves. Yet even so, the Scottish government is still keen to become the green energy capital of Europe, with more investments placed in renewable energy.  Read more

READER SUBMISSION –By 2030, Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, hopes to become a “middle-income country providing a high quality life to all its citizens”. Yet while the government’s Vision 2030 plan is strong in ideology and rhetoric, it neglects to compensate for the true problem in the country: human failures such as endemic corruption, poor governance, and low productivity.   Read more

Angering Spain by seizing and nationalizing a majority of Repsol's shares in YPF and ramping up the rhetoric over the Falkland Islands as exploration deals promise to make the territory a major oil player overnight, Argentina is making few friends in the fossil fuels industry these days. Sam Logan, owner of the Latin America-focused private intelligence boutique, Southern Pulse, speaks to Oilprice.com about the politics of populism behind Argentina's energy aggression.  Read more

Regardless of who wins the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, the next American president will only have limited room for manoeuvre on economic policy. The real choice as such should concern the social policies that accompany a broadly similar set of economic measures; and, here, the differences between the candidates are highly consequential.  Read more

America has typically relied on its domestic market for economic growth, with consumer spending accounting for some 70 percent of annual GDP growth. Given the strong likelihood that US consumers will remain weak for years to come, America’s growth agenda needs to focus on getting more out of the other 30 percent. But can this be done?   Read more

The latest international data show that unaffordable food, pervasive unemployment, and dwindling social support threaten global recovery and the world's population. Yet the world remains fixated on austerity and cost-cutting measures to boost recovery, which in turn has disproportionately affected the poor and put access to public goods and services under growing pressure.  Read more

Throughout history, economists and policy makers have often clashed over the role of the government in the economy. Even today, this debate continues; but despite the realities of twenty-first-century technology and globalisation, it is still conducted largely as if governance and public policy were almost exclusively the domain of the nation-state.  Read more

The Olympics is no longer all about sport, but rather a corporate jamboree for the elite super-rich. The same pattern repeats itself every time as host nations are forced to follow the International Olympic Committee’s rulebook.  Read more

Unlike other recently ousted bank CEOs, Barclay’s Bob Diamond was a banker supposedly at the top of his game. Nevertheless, Diamond met his (figurative) demise after he forgot that the continued existence of any bank with a large balance sheet depends largely on maintaining a good relationship with regulators. The Libor scandal though is only the beginning: Although banks still remain powerful on the surface, their legitimacy continues to crumble.  Read more

At their meeting at the end of June, European leaders acknowledged for the first time the multiple dimensions of the crisis, accepting that austerity – putting everyone’s house in order – will not suffice. What is still missing, however, is recognition of the need for greater flexibility on fiscal-consolidation efforts.  Read more

Almost two decades ago, the World Bank published its landmark study “The East Asian Miracle,” analyzing why East Asian economies grew faster than emerging markets in Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere. But it is necessary to re-assess economists' focus on these countries' formal rules and governance structures.  Read more

As a reformed Europe starts growing, parts of it might experience US-style inequality. But Europe would be far worse off if it were to avoid serious reform and lapse, Japan-like, into egalitarian and genteel decline.  Read more

EU states lose an estimated €1 trillion in potential revenue every year from tax evasion and avoidance activities. Much of this amount, it turns out, has been squirreled away to offshore tax havens – known otherwise as “treasure islands”. Can anything be done to recoup these losses?  Read more

Summer crises are a familiar feature of European history – and of financial history. Often, addressing some technical issue was not enough to resolve a major political problem, which is true today as well, with Europe’s current crisis reflecting exactly the same mixture of elements, each requiring a very different type of solution.  Read more

With US unemployment still above 8 percent, jobs have become a major focus in the presidential campaign. But, while President Barack Obama’s proposals are convincing, none of Mitt Romney’s would do much in the near term – and some could prove counterproductive.  Read more

The EU summit, held in Brussels last week, managed to bring about some much needed, albeit temporary, relief for the euro. Nevertheless, Europe's leaders have once again failed to address the region’s fundamental weaknesses and confidence in Europe’s periphery is now waning.  Read more

The fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 has forced a global rethink over the future of nuclear energy. Today, some countries have outright rejected any further use of nuclear power, while others continue to pursue the energy source for economic reasons. How has the events at Fukushima affected the development of the nuclear power industry, and what is the global outlook for industry?  Read more

A new WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement would benefit all by increasing developing countries’ capacity to trade, strengthening the WTO’s development mandate, and boosting global economic growth. Indeed, such an agreement could be a down payment on WTO members' commitment to linking trade and development.  Read more

Despite growing public concern, companies such as Google and Facebook continue to demonstrate an insatiable desire to gather and market our personal information to advertisers. Today, these companies are even able to manage our online identities by creating the equivalent of an ID card for the Internet.  Read more

As global energy supplies come under increasing attack by non-state actors and private energy holdings become key targets of political maneuverings and criminal activities, Oilprice.com discusses the nature of the growing threat and how to reverse the risk with "smart power."

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A global perfect storm is brewing. Across the world, dark, lowering financial and economic clouds are now looming over the economy, with the eurozone cloud set to be the largest to burst. Indeed, the global economy in 2013 could be a very difficult environment in which to find shelter.  Read more

The future of the planet is at stake in Rio. Without a real and lasting solution that recalibrates our current economic thinking at a systemic level, the scale and pace of change could soon push the planet past critical thresholds and make sustainable development everywhere an impossible dream. Yet with just days to go to the summit, many today are speculating about just how many world leaders will show up and what kind of agreements will be reached.  Read more

We have never had to deal with problems of the scale facing today’s globally interconnected society. But decades of research demonstrate that a variety of overlapping policies at city, subnational, national, and international levels is more likely to succeed than are single, overarching binding agreements.  Read more

When the truth is unimaginable, human psychology finds an alternative reality in which to dwell. That describes the global situation today, when the entire planet seems to be in denial about what is about to occur in the eurozone.  Read more

Though six factors now suggest that US economy is slowly and steadily healing, a lot more needs to happen – indeed, urgently – to restore America's traditional vigour and vitality.  Read more

Steep rises in the cost of higher education, especially in the US and the UK, have been accompanied by the declining value of degrees, leading some commentators to predict that the student bubble is about to deflate.    Read more

The US Defense Department consumes more energy than any other department or sector in the country, spending around $20 billion annually by some estimates; but ambitious plans to make it the nation's green leader have been swept under the rug over budgetary concerns that smack of campaign politics.  Read more

In 2010, global donor aid for low-income countries reached $26.9 billion, leading to major successes in public health and saving millions of lives. Yet, there are still some who would have you believe that all the funds are going to waste, and that aid-supported programs should be halted immediately.  Read more

The cooperative movements, which began in the 1800s, have sometimes struggled to live up to their ideals. Some fall victim to bad politics, weak governance, or mismanagement, while others are exposed to risks stemming from over-concentration. But as we search for innovative solutions to today’s development challenges, we should consider what the cooperative movement can offer and figure out how to facilitate the spread of cooperatives’ best practices while avoiding their common pitfalls.  Read more

As a major consumer of energy, Google’s recent efforts to go green are seen as a welcome step by the environmental advocates, who see the Internet giant as an important future player in the renewable energy industry. But can Google really capitalise on its momentum and become an influential figure in energy policy?  Read more