Economics

Savagely beaten by the left-wing Scottish Nationalist Party in Scotland and the right-wing Conservative Party in England, Labour now faces difficult choices about where the road ahead. As if that were not enough to worry about, the rise of the...

We may be delighted or depressed that the UK general election delivered an unexpected Tory majority, but does it really make a difference? Most of the decisions that affect our lives, our environment, our working conditions and the products and...

The 57 founding members of the China-sponsored Asian Investment Bank will meet on May 20 in Singapore.   Many countries rushed to join the new development bank before the March 31 deadline even though key rules remained undecided.  Even the size...

Indonesia’s Papua, covering its two easternmost provinces, simmers with the highest levels of deadly violence — inter-ethnic, electoral, land-related and domestic — in the country. Home to a Melanesian and largely Christian indigenous population, it became part of Indonesia in...

A number of leading economists and investment banks in the United States are warning that American GDP growth is likely to disappoint, even after several downward revisions over the last six months. Two large investment banks urged caution to clients...

Every year it seems financial analysts come up with new ways to rank investments. Bloomberg recently added to the list by ranking world economies by the financial "happiness" of the citizens in those nations. Every year it seems financial analysts...

The US dollar is broadly higher as yesterday's gains are extended.  The driving force is not so much a shift in perceptions of the US economy, though the San Francisco Fed that claimed seasonal adjustment quirks are behind the repeated...

The newly established BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) is going to be headed by Indian banker KV Kamath. The bank is headquartered in Shanghai and is an attempt to bring together emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South...

Ever since the post-gold standard age of adjustable exchange rates was inaugurated in the mid-1930s to consensually engineer a negotiated depreciation, the question of exchange rates and of trade have been entwined and subject to international oversight. This certainly should...

Gas prices are rising in the United States and are expected to rise further, limiting the possibility that Americans will spend more on discretionary goods and services. In late 2014, many economists expected a rise in discretionary consumer spending and...

Disappointing US economic data and high volatility in the German bunds kept the dollar under pressure.  Over the past week the greenback fell against all the major currencies, save the New Zealand dollar (where interest rate cut expectations have built...

This Great Graphic comes from the Wall Street Journal.  It shows the evolution of market expectations for the first Fed rate hike from the monthly survey it conducts.  At the start of the year, many economists, like us, thought that...

The United States is beginning to underperform other developed countries as several economic indicators point to a slowdown. Earlier this week the United States Census Bureau reported retail sales stagnated in April, despite expectations of a 0.2% rise in spending...

Images of children working in hazardous and abusive conditions naturally provoke strong emotional reactions. For this reason, measures designed to stop children from working, and make sure they go to school, attract little opposition or debate. Yet the reality is...

The relationship between China and India will be one of the most important of this century. Their ability to cooperate will be crucial on international issues ranging from climate change to multilateral trade negotiations. Yet for all of its future...