Monthly Archive for October, 2010

To Choose Austerity is to Bet it All on the Confidence Fairy

Published on October 25, 2010 in News. 0 Comments

joseph_stiglitz_140x140By Joseph Stiglitz, in The Guardian

The Keynesian policies in the aftermath of the Lehman brothers bankruptcy were a triumph of economic theory. In Europe, the US and Asia, the stimulus packages worked. Those countries that had the largest (relative to the size of their economy) and best-designed packages did best. China, for instance, maintained growth at a rate in excess of 8%, despite a massive decline in exports. In the US the stimulus was both too small and poorly designed – 40% of it went on household tax cuts, which were known not to provide much bang for the buck – and yet unemployment was reduced from what it otherwise would have been – over 12% – to 10%.

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Recently Published in The Global Studies Journal

Published on October 25, 2010 in Journal. 0 Comments

globalThe latest issue of The Global Studies Journal includes:

The Real Danger to the Economy

Published on October 19, 2010 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

obama_barack-032510_jpg_230x867_q85From George Soros, in The New York Review of Books

Conflict between the United States and China dominated the meeting of the IMF on October 9 and 10. The United States was pressing China to revalue the renminbi upward while China was blaming the turmoil in currency markets on the United States policy of providing cheap credit. When Brazil’s finance minister spoke of an imminent currency war he was not far off the mark. China and the US were talking past each other but it would have been better if they had listened to each other because both sides were making valid points. Both China and the US, and the global economy as a whole, would fare much better if both sides accepted the other side’s recommendation.

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Flight and Expulsion: Revealing the Countries Refugees Flee From and To

Published on October 14, 2010 in News. 0 Comments

flight_expulstion_2010From Information Aesthetics

Based on the annual UNHCR Refugee Report, the slick Flight & Expulsion [niceone.org] visualization shows different perspectives on the extensive dataset. Approximately 21 million people worldwide can be labeled as refugees: people who are forced to leave their countries due to war, political, racial or religious persecution, as internally displaced persons, or as repatriates on their way back home.

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Latest Papers Published in The Global Studies Journal

Published on October 14, 2010 in Journal. 0 Comments

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The latest issue of The Global Studies Journal includes:

From Currency to Warfare to Lasting Peace

Published on October 12, 2010 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

barry_eichengreenFrom Barry Eichengreen, in Vox

If the financial press is to be believed, the world is on the verge of a currency war. Central bankers have pulled out their bazookas in a desperate, take-no-prisoners effort to weaken their currencies.

  • The Fed is preparing for another round of quantitative easing. If this results in a weaker dollar that boosts US exports, then no one on the FOMC will complain.
  • The Bank of Japan, disconcerted by the conjuncture of a strong currency and weak economy, has already intervened in the foreign exchange market to push down the yen.
  • The ECB has extended the term of its special bank credit facilities and will ramp up its government bond purchases if Europe’s sovereign debt crisis worsens.
  • China continues to limit the appreciation of the renminbi.
  • Brazil and India, having seen their currencies rise to painful levels, may feel compelled to take countermeasures.

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India’s Surprising Economic Miracle

Published on October 10, 2010 in News. 0 Comments

From The Economist

Horrible toilets. Stagnant puddles buzzing with dengue-spreading mosquitoes. Collapsing masonry. Lax security. A terrorist attack. India’s preparations for the 72-nation Commonwealth games, which are scheduled to open in Delhi on October 3rd, have not won favourable reviews. “Commonfilth”, was one of the kinder British tabloid headlines. At best—assuming that the organisers make a last-minute dash to spruce things up—the Delhi games will be remembered as a shambles. The contrast with China’s practically flawless hosting of the Olympic games in 2008 could hardly be starker. Many people will draw the wrong lesson from this.

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The Global Studies Journal, Volume 3, Number 2 available

Published on October 6, 2010 in Journal and Newsletter. 0 Comments

global_front

The second issue of Volume 3 of  The Global Studies Journal has now been published.

Papers included in Volume 3, Number 2:

Continue reading ‘The Global Studies Journal, Volume 3, Number 2 available’

PR for the PRC

Published on October 3, 2010 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

pr-for-the-prc

From n+1

During the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, I worked as a speed typist for the Chinese Ministry of Propaganda. It was my job to type, in English, everything that was said during an endless blur of press conferences where the Middle Kingdom celebrated its logistical triumphs. For the six months leading up to the closing ceremonies, I took my place at the back of cushy hotel ballrooms and chilly glass conference halls. I sat at tables covered with peach linens and drank from glasses of water provided by gloved attendants. I slogged through conferences on stadium construction, on feeding the athletes, on the zigzag path of the Olympic torch. The reporters slouched; the officials droned; the translators whirred. Subjects varied, but the theme never wavered: I was transcribing traces of China’s Rise, delivering ascendance-evidence to an awestruck world. Some might have considered it ethically fraught to shill for an organization best known for driving tanks over students. I thought it was wonderful. I felt like I was at the center of the world, the spot where all eyes were turning.

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