The concept “financial inclusion” in mainstream business and development circles means an all-encompassing term for innovation in financial services for the poor. Financial inclusion is part of an important economic development programme to solve the lack of access to formal financial services for billions of people around the world.
The world’s population is becoming increasingly urban. Sometime in 2007 is the turning point when city dwellers formed the majority of the global population for the first time in history. Today, the trend toward urbanisation continues: as of 2014, about 54% of the world’s population lives in cities – and it expects to reach 66% by 2050. Migration forms a significant, and often controversial, part of this urban population growth.
Will increasing economic interdependence between Japan and China increase or reduce the risk of conflict?
The conventional liberal wisdom is that economic interdependence between states enhances peaceful relations — as in the saying attributed to the early 19th century French economist Frederic Bastiat: ‘if goods don’t cross borders, armies will’. However, critics have pointed out that on the eve of World War II Germany and the United Kingdom were each other’s major trading partners.
The US-German 2-year interest rate differential (swap rate) is a useful directional guide to the euro-dollar exchange rate. At about 105 bp, it is the highest since 2005. The US premium had peaked in late 2004 near 185 bp. In the second half of the 1990s, it was common for the US premium to be in excess of 250 bp. It has risen 25 bp since the middle of October, encouraged by Draghi, whose dovishness again surprised investors.
A critical driver in the foreign exchange market and the global capital markets more generally, is the continued preparation by the Federal Reserve for a rate hike, while many other central banks, including the ECB, warn investors that more accommodative monetary policy may be necessary. In the days ahead, the economic data and official speeches will occur in the context of building expectations.
The US dollar recorded mixed performance last week. Consolidative technical pressure, after it spurted higher at the end of the previous week with the help of a dovish ECB and rate cuts by the PBOC, and month-end pressures dominated. There was some disappointment that the BOJ did not ease, helping send the yen higher before the weekend. Heightened expectations for an RBA rate cut in the week ahead weighed on the Australian dollar. The euro itself was virtually unchanged on the week and off 1.5% on the month.
Republican presidential candidates debated a range of economic issues in their third debate, from what to do about Medicare and social security to tax policy and even a brief exchange on daily fantasy sports. The moderators became part of the scrum, and Hillary Clinton and her fellow Democrats took a few bashes, as GOP contenders strove to stand out. Here is an instant analysis from three scholars.
Candidates and media spar, but Americans get their moment
– Thomas Kochan, MIT Sloan School of Management
While the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership has potential to split Asia Pacific, it could be a foundation for truly free trade, along with other free trade plans in the region.
The Federal Reserve is leaving low interest rates in place as it sees weak job growth and moderate economic improvement throughout America.
The decision by the Federal Open Market Committee comes a month after a previous decision to keep interest rates at historic lows despite broad expectations of a September interest rate hike. Expectations for a rate hike in October remained minimal, but the Fed’s comments on Wednesday afternoon encouraged a number of analysts and economists to predict a jump in rates in December.
After more than five years of missed deadlines, trade ministers from the 12 participating Asia-Pacific countries that met in Atlanta finally concluded the negotiations surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on 5 October 2015. So is the TPP settled? The short answer to the question is not yet. The public fanfare accompanying the announcement led many to believe the agreement would soon come into force. Yet there is still much more work to do before this happens.
