Why Bidenomics did not deliver at the polls
As US president, Joe Biden charted a new economic path for the Democrats by siding unabashedly with the working class and introducing a wide range of industrial policies to reinvigorate manufacturing,...
Middle powers will make a multipolar world
China’s rise has challenged America’s undisputed hegemony over the world economy – a status the United States has enjoyed since the Soviet Union’s collapse. While some American...
The beggar-thy-neighbour test
With all major trading countries increasingly resorting to unilateral action to advance their own social, economic, environmental, and security goals, the world economy desperately needs a clear...
Opinion- A new trilemma haunts the world economy
I wrote a speculative article in 2000 on what I called “the political trilemma of the world economy.” My claim was that advanced forms of globalisation, the nation-state, and mass politics could...
A new trilemma haunts the world economy
I wrote a speculative article in 2000 on what I called “the political trilemma of the world economy.” My claim was that advanced forms of globalization, the nation-state, and mass politics could...
What the new left needs
Recent elections in France and the United Kingdom, together with America’s current presidential campaign, reflect the dilemmas left-leaning parties confront as they try to fashion new identities and...
Don’t fret about green subsidies
A trade war over clean technologies is brewing. The United States and the European Union, worried that Chinese subsidies threaten their green industries, have warned that they will respond with import...
America’s emulation of China calls for new rules
It is common to think of US-China tensions as the inevitable result of stark differences between the two countries. The United States has a fully capitalist market economy, whereas the Chinese...
Better jobs mean better development
Conventional economics has always had a blind spot when it comes to jobs. The problem goes back to Adam Smith, who placed consumers, rather than workers, on the throne of economic life. What matters...
Doing economic nationalism the right way
With the United States leading the way, the world seems to be entering a new era of economic nationalism, as many countries prioritize their domestic social, economic, and environmental agendas over...
Bridging the climate-development gap
Ishac Diwan is Research Director at the Finance for Development LabLow-income countries are in the throes of a liquidity crunch that is not only undermining their economic development but also...
The global economy’s real enemy is geopolitics, not protectionism
"The era of free trade seems to be over. How will the world economy fare under protectionism?"This is one of the most common questions I hear nowadays. But the distinction between free trade and...
Focus on productivity, not technology
Economists have long argued that productivity is the foundation of prosperity. The only way a country can increase its standard of living sustainably is to produce more goods and services with fewer...
National sovereignty’s silver lining
Commentary on the world economy has never been short of exhortations for greater global cooperation. “What happens anywhere affects everybody ... [so] it is pretty clear that the world needs more...
Washington’s new narrative for the global economy
Two competing agendas are currently vying to shape the United States’ domestic and foreign economic policies. One agenda is inward-looking, focusing on the creation of an inclusive, resilient,...
Will new trade policies leave the developing world behind?
Developing countries are increasingly worried that the United States will turn its back on the multilateral trade regime. Amid rising geopolitical tensions, policymakers in lower- and middle-income...
What’s next for globalisation?
The narrative that underpins the current global economic system is in the midst of a transformative plot twist. Since the end of World War II, the so-called liberal international order has been...
Governance for a healthy economy
Our world is undergoing an economic transition that will require effective government actions on many fronts to manage climate change, ensure better public health, and rebuild our middle classes...
Our world is undergoing an economic transition that will require effective government action on many fronts to manage climate change, ensure public health, and rebuild our middle classes through good...
Development economics goes north
At the heart of development economics lies the idea of “productive dualism.” The economists who founded the field of development economics, such as the Nobel laureate Caribbean economist W Arthur...