Appropriately given the EU's current situation, I am reading leading institutional scholar Johan Olsen's Europe in Search of Political Order. Having had the pleasure of meeting him, I am most impressed by this volume. While reading this book, I recently turned on the TV and saw the 55th staging of the strange spectacle known as the Eurovision Song Contest. If you are unfamiliar with Eurovision, it is nearly exactly what its title suggests--a song competition hosted by European countries. In short, it's Europe's Got Talent long before Simon Cowell arrived on the scene. (And, critics would say that many entrants are singularly lacking talent.) Now, what does Eurovision have to do with the search for political order in Europe, you ask? In its own odd way, Eurovision has been a platform for establishing a pan-European identity in the wider integration project. It is a way of creating "we-feeling." As Professor Olsen so aptly puts it:The level of institutionalization and integration...
Wild Days and Nights of Korean Won Intervention
Asian developing countries are noted for their highly involved approaches to foreign exchange policy. Perhaps this is a natural result of being export-oriented: sustaining large trade surpluses involves no small attention to currency matters. Just as Japan's model of export-led industrialization set a template for other Asian economies wishing to follow in its lead--Akamatsu-san famously called it the "flying geese model" (with Japan in front)--its policy choices have filtered down to other wannabe economic powerhouses. Although Japan has not intervened in the currency markets for a very long time, other Asian economies have...
Be Optimistic About Euro Fiscal Situation; Not US
Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, here we have a laundry list of PIIGS' efforts to adjust to an age of diminished expectations -The Euro-Zone Diet: A look at austerity measures across the ContinentGreece* Three-year €40 billion program of measures recently enacted to secure a €110 billion rescue from the EU and International Monetary Fund* Cuts in public-sector wages, as well as private- and publicsector pensions* Two-percentage-point increase in the top value-added tax rate to 23%, effective July 1Ireland* €4 billion in spending cuts set in 2010 budget, as the first part of a four-year program* Salary cuts of 5%-15% for government workers, for a savings of €1 billion from public service payrolls* €760 million in reductions to welfare benefits* Curbs in child-benefit paymentsItaly* Two-year €24 billion program of austerity efforts* Wage freeze for public-sector work force* Reductions in funding to regional and local governments* 10% cut per year in 2011 and 2012 spending by...
Cross-Retaliation: Poor Countries' WTO Weapon
For reasons I can no longer remember, I signed up to e-mailed newsletters from the Berkeley Electronic Press featuring open access journals. Aside from the Journal of Globalization and Development which I've commented on before, they also publish The Law and Development Review. The latter journal now has an article which should be of interest to anyone interested in trade and development. Although developing countries have scored major legal victories at the WTO against developed ones--think of Antigua versus the United States over online gaming or Brazil versus the United States over cotton--their luck at obtaining compliance...
Qadhafi's Son Speaks @ LSE; Brawl Erupts
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Middle East,NGOs
at 5/27/2010 12:34:00 AM
Once more during this very eventful week, it's interesting times on the LSE lecture circuit. It may not be known to many outside of (or even in) the UK, but the favoured son of Moammar Qadhafi by his second wife, Saif al-Islam Alqadhafi, completed his PhD in global governance here at the LSE. His thesis concerned The Role of Civil Society in the Democratization of Global Governance Institutions: From ‘Soft Power’ to Collective Decision-Making? Many believe that Alqadhafi is the likely successor to Moammar Qadhafi. Given the emphasis of his research, you will not be surprised to find out that he is broadly reformist in outlook....
What China Wants from America in a Nutshell
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in China
at 5/27/2010 12:07:00 AM
I just wanted to post this quickly. From the just-concluded US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan tabled three requests the PRC is most keen on from the US, economically speaking. If you need more background information, I have posted on these at greater length:Export restrictions deal with American companies being prohibited from exporting to China goods that can be "dual use"--civilian or military. However, there is a complementary issue of Western nations seeking an unhindered flow from China of rare earth metals--materials used in making high-technology goods; To reverse a sad history of Chinese private sector investment in America being discouraged over dubious security grounds;When China joined the WTO in 2001, one of the agreed preconditions was that it would be given market economy status only in 2016. Why is this important? It is easier to file antidumping claims against countries like China that are designated as non-market economies...
Bond Market Vigilantes: Are They Here or AWOL?
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Credit Crisis
at 5/26/2010 12:09:00 AM
I almost forgot to post this op-ed by Alan Blinder on why the bond vigilantes are supposedly coming back with a vengeance. While they have, so far, not really come around to punishing the United States for its unprecedented profligacy, he argues that peripheral European countries are effectively the canary in the coal mine for Western governments to shape up their acts.In this way Blinder is a lot like Roubini in espousing a sort of financial domino theory: up front are the PIIGS countries that are earlier in the pile to topple. Inevitably, however, despite (temporarily) declining yields on US Treasuries, German bunds, and the like, a lack of action will eventually yield similar results: lack of confidence in sovereign debt issues if fiscal health is not improved markedly in the medium term. From the Wall Street Journal:From a long-run perspective, the bond market vigilantes have it right. Greece, Europe, the U.S. and other countries must take serious steps to get their budget...
Hillary to China: Buy Jillions More of Treasuries
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in China,Credit Crisis
at 5/25/2010 12:46:00 PM
I almost to forgot to mention proceedings from the US-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue of 24-25 May. The US Treasury site has speeches and more posted. However, I was particularly taken by what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to say. Basically, she encouraged China to pile on jillions more of Treasury bonds as the US continues with its unabated spending jihad:China has made a "wise" choice by buying United States debt instruments, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday in Beijing, where senior officials from both powers are meeting for two days of talks. In an interview with Chinese television, Clinton also said that at some point China would have to invest more at home.China is the world's largest holder of U.S. Treasuries, with $895.2 billion and added to its stockpile in March for the first time in seven months. Chinese officials, including Premier Wen Jiabao, last year prodded the Obama administration to avoid pursuing fiscal policies that...
Introducing UNEP Climate Competitiveness Index
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Environment,United Nations
at 5/25/2010 12:04:00 AM
As if we didn't have enough measures of competitiveness already, here comes yet another one for us to consider. Given the rising prominence of environmental issues, it's only natural that they gained status as one of the emerging arenas for developing metrics for competitiveness. Certainly, this idea is not new. Harvard's legendary management guru Michael Porter identified it as far back as 1991 as the next arena for global contestation. Meanwhile, journalist Thomas Friedman basically ripped off Porter's idea in also identifying green technologies as an area where America can renew itself.Not one to be left out it the environmental...
Quotas, Dead Fans & 'Italian' Champs Inter Milan
Ah, Inter Milan, Campioni d'Europa after beating Bayern Munich in the 2010 UEFA Champions League finals. As followers of European football know, the top finishers in the first divisions of European competitions have the opportunity to participate in the Champions League where, literally, the best sides in Europe vie annually for the greatest prize in club football.My Milanese flatmate regales me with stories of wild celebrations breaking out at home after Inter Milan won its first Champions League final in over forty years. Dutifully, however, I pointed out that there was much criticism of how Inter Milan 'represented' Italy....
The Economic Architect of Singapore Passes Away
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Southeast Asia
at 5/22/2010 10:50:00 PM
It is with sadness that I report the passing of one of the great men who built the country that is now the envy of the rest of Southeast Asia and, indeed, much of the developing world. Although many Westerners do not know him, the great man Goh Keng Swee who recently passed away last Friday, 14 May, is widely considered to be the driving force of Singapore's economic rise. While Lee Kuan Yew's name is now synonymous with a brand of "benevolent authoritarianism" that has caught the eye of the Western media, it is the lesser-known Goh Keng Swee who takes just as much if not more credit in engineering the amazing growth story...
Monday Night May Be the Greatest in LSE History
Coming from a well-respected but comparably modest institution in the University of Birmingham, I really had no idea about how vast the difference was between its like and the LSE. Sure, Birmingham hosted the last televised debate among the prime ministerial contenders, but the LSE name is recognized as perhaps the last word in the social sciences. Not only do the world's prominent social scientists and politicians inevitably make a pit stop at our patch in what I still regard as the world's capital, but they come in droves. Tina Turner sang once about it, and I will leave with fond memories of my time here.But before that...
Next WTO Battleground: PRC Resource 'Hoarding'
Boy, these certainly are interesting days. A recurring complaint of China regarding bellyaching over trade imbalances is that many Western high-technology goods the Chinese would like to buy are off limits to it. That is, many are hands-off to the PRC over "dual use" concerns [1, 2]. True, the West often fans these fears of growing Chinese military power. However, if the West were to act more consistently in both security and trade domains, then it would at least consider lifting restrictions on more of these technologies in the interest of alleviating global economic imbalances. As Tesco's slogan says, every little helps.Or...
How I Almost Stumped William Easterly (Really)
It's been a particularly hectic week here at the LSE lecture circuit. On Tuesday, Nouriel Roubini came along, presented, and signed copies of his new book (you can listen to a podcast of his presentation here). On Wednesday, William Easterly then paid a visit and talked about the intriguingly titled "We Don't Know How to Solve Global Poverty and That's a Good Thing." While his presentation hearkened back a lot to his 2006 book The White Man's Burden, he added a few wrinkles--some perhaps unexpectedly for those of us who've grown somewhat tired of his lines of argument. First, contrary to the title of his presentation, he clearly...
Record US Foreclosures? Excellent News!
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Casino Capitalism,Hegemony
at 5/20/2010 12:01:00 AM
Call it schadenfreude, but I cannot but help applaud news that the United States is suffering record delinquencies and foreclosures (also see the MBA press release). Remember, these are the same folks who tried to impose upon the world "Washington Consensus"-style strictures of liberalization, privatization, and deregulation on the road to some sort of economistic paradise. Yet, when faced with troubles have happened at home, they've undertaken unprecedented deliberalization, nationalization, and reregulation. While this sort of double talk is to be expected from Americans (as other who've aspired to similar hegemonic entitlements in history), the only real question for me is why the rest of the world allows the United States to get away with this boorish behaviour.What rising delinquencies and foreclosures demonstrate are obvious things folks in the blogosphere aside from me have reiterated over and over:You can't fix a problem caused by excessive borrowing by borrowing trillions...
Schumer: PRC Must Disclose IMF Verdict on RMB
Yikes! Just when you thought things had quieted down on the China front, our dear senator from New York, one Charles Schumer, is back on the China-bashing warpath together with some of his senatorial colleagues. (Yes, China-bashing is a bipartisan pastime paradise.) With the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue scheduled for 24-45 May in Beijing, congressional pressure is back on the rise to embarrass the hosts. What is interesting from an IPE angle is that these senators are calling for the Chinese to disclose an IMF report billed as the "smoking gun" pointing to their currency manipulation. Like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster,...