Economics

Despite broad support from mainstream economists, the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is losing political support in America. President Barack Obama has doubled down on the deal, announcing his intentions to pass the legislation and his hopes that both the Senate and...

Arguably, the most famous astrophysicist in the world, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, has posited that the first private trillionaires in the world will make their money by exploiting the endless resources of space. These comments came during an interview with CNBC...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s US visit was, overall, a success. His meeting with President Obama and his Congressional speech created the impression of a leader who is capable of delivering. During his visit to the US two years ago, Abe...

The beginning of a new month starts the usual cycle of economic data.  Among these, only the US employment report is significant.  A weak report would not only rule out a June hike by the Fed, but would call a...

Photo: Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com Photo: Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com When Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for their long-awaited fight on May 2, it is expected to be the highest grossing boxing match in...

John Bartle, Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty were the mad men of the 1980s. Their BBH ad agency was the marketing genius behind Levi’s jeans, Audi cars and Lynx male deodorants. John Bartle, Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty were the...

Since the mid-1990s, public criticism of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) government has expanded to involve thousands of citizens across the country. From this ferment of criticism numerous individuals, networks and organisations have emerged that oppose the present regime...

Taiwan has unsurprisingly been rejected as a founding member of the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Standing outside the AIIB tent may not be a bad thing for Taiwan. It offers the Taiwanese government a chance to observe the...

A number of economic indicators suggest a surprise slowdown throughout Europe, while American spending doubles but remains pressured by moribund wage growth. This week the UK announced that its economy had risen by only 0.3%, a decline from the previous...

The broad-based dollar sell-off this week has considerably narrowed.  The dollar's losses have become move concentrated in the post-FOMC sessions with just the euro sustaining the momentum and extending this week's gains. The broad-based dollar sell-off this week has considerably...

Economic sanctions and divestment campaigns are attractive but often flawed tactics for accomplishing international political goals. The social stigma the campaigns create often fails to match the economic pain these campaigns inflict, making the costs of resisting them for governments...

Outside of an individual's oil stock holdings, damage to the economy from the fall in oil has been pretty minimal so far. Indeed, the price cut in home heating oil and gasoline has probably outweighed the damage from lower oil...

Consumer spending rose by the largest amount in nearly half a year even as incomes remain stagnant.  According to a new report by the Commerce Department, consumer spending rose 0.4% in March, which is double the February rate. While a...

One of the most important forces shaping the investment climate is that the US is closer to beginning to normalize monetary policy than other major countries and regions.  That gap may be measured in years, not months or quarters, and...

Consumers today have easy access to a wide range of products and services. The task of choosing between hundreds of products or packages each having dozens of different fees however, is the opposite of easy. Consumers today have easy access...