From Davos to Doha: WTO Round Done in 2011?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 1/29/2011 09:43:00 AM
Running over the same old groundWhat have we found?The same old fearsWish you were hereAnd now for some postcards from Davos. Sometime ago, I had a self-parodying feature of T-shirts being sold at the WTO headquarters gift shop in Geneva depicting how trade talks to conclude the Doha Development Agenda--now considerably the longest-running trade round in GATT/WTO history by a comfortable margin--have literally spanned the globe to little effect. At the start of this year, then, it is apropos that the usual suspects of world leaders and trade ministers are affirming the benefits of trade liberalization and that we're near the finish line. From the newswire reports [1, 2], we gather assertions that:Failure to conclude Doha represents a failure of global leadership (Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva);Fair, free and open trade is more important than aid for developing nations (Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono);We are so very nearly there (German Chancellor Angela...
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Of Sexy Russian Spies and 'Erotic Capital'

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 1/28/2011 12:03:00 AM
Lest you think I've become an econodullard obsessed with discount rates and multiplier effects--it's easy enough to find plenty enough of those without looking hard--here's funner stuff that showcases the diversity which the best IPE encompasses. Freakonomics-style dweebery doesn't count by the way; let's just say I don't prattle endlessly about the veracity of being described as "concave-chested." Anyway, to today's post. A few months ago, the headlines were littered with headlines of American authorities arresting and sending away the Russian spy Anna Chapman. The gaffer here at LSE IDEAS, Professor Michael Cox, was inordinately...
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Climate Apartheid? The India-Bangladesh Superfence

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 1/27/2011 12:02:00 AM
My friend came to me, with sadness in his eyesHe told me that he wanted helpBefore his country diesAnd so begin the lyrics to "Bangla Desh" from George Harrison's Concert for Bangla Desh held on 1 August 1971 in Madison Square Garden. Well before we had Sir Bono and Sir Bob Geldof, Live Aid and Live 8, we had the late, great Beatle setting the template for all there was to follow. This forerunner of all benefit concerts was held to support the victims of the 12 November 1970 Bhola cyclone in which an estimated 300,000 lost their lives in the region then called East Pakistan--today's Bangladesh. Just as Pakistan emerged from...
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Financial Wargaming: If China Dumps US Treasuries

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 1/26/2011 12:04:00 AM
Boo! Here's a fun feature you may have overlooked. Well, let's just say it's fun contemplating--I offer no guarantees that it will be enjoyable if it comes through. It is said that popular entertainment gains resonance from being not entirely disconnected with reality. In particular, resonating with commonly held anxieties usually works. During the eighties when Ronald Reagan was at the height of his "evil empire" phase, there was a made-for-TV movie concerning a Soviet takeover of the United States, Amerika. More recently, of course, the reds under the bed of the ever-gullible American public have been the Chinese instead...
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'End of History' Fukuyama Raps US, Lauds China

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 1/24/2011 12:27:00 PM
While I try to be a conscientious scholar, a neat thing about academia is that you don't even have to be right to gain attention. Take Francis Fukuyama [please!] After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he gained notoriety for his now widely derided "End of History" thesis that all political-economic systems would converge on capitalist liberal democracy as the only game in town. While the succeeding years have put paid to that idea, Fukuyama has successfully parlayed a naff idea into a vehicle for self-promotion. Among other things, he famously broke with his erstwhile neoconservative ideological allies over the invasion of...
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Eurosceptics & UK-Baltic 'Anti-French Alliance'

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 1/24/2011 12:07:00 AM
$acre bleu! While the IPE Zone doesn't do conspiracy theories, the above post title was suggested by none other than the Financial Times, not some Eurosceptic rag which are a dime a dozen here in the UK. Alas, there is always a vocal bunch of Euro-haters perpetually voicing their opposition to UK involvement in European affairs as a further erosion of national sovereignty to stereotypically faceless bureaucrats from Brussels.Needless to say, Eurosceptics enjoy predicting and sometimes even plotting the ever-imminent downfall of the European Union the way orthodox communists do with capitalism. A few months ago, I featured...
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Everything's Big in Texas, Including Austerity

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 1/21/2011 12:06:00 AM
Texans famously have a strong independent streak, hence the bumper sticker "Don't Mess With Texas." A few months ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry famously suggested that, given Washington's continuing profligacy, the state may consider seceding from the union to avoid saddling its future generations with such a horrendous debtload:An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall -- one of three tea parties he was attending across the state -- that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and...
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Are Ugly People Crime Prone? Loughner Edition

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 1/20/2011 10:11:00 AM
To begin with, let me say that I obviously don't have conclusive survey evidence that now-famous Arizona gunman Jared Loughner--on whom I'll have more about shortly--is widely regarded as "ugly." It must be said, though, that there has been a general public outcry over his prison mugshot. The vacant stare and mad grin are widely noted, but also consider the cracked smile, crooked nose, and general lack of facial symmetry. I doubt whether most of you out there would disagree that this guy is not the most aesthetically pleasing fellow. Which brings me to a longstanding body of research that should shed light on the link between...
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Does China Lend More to LDCs Than World Bank?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 1/20/2011 12:18:00 AM
In case you missed it, here's further proof of how far China has come in terms of winning friends and influencing people. Paramount Leader Hu Jintao pretty much came, saw, and conquered (veni, vidi, vici) his obsequious, occasionally backstabbing lodgers renting the PRC's subprime North American real estate whose (very dysfunctional) tenants association is led by--who else?--Barack "China Currency Coalition" Obama. Now hilariously lame get-tough-on-China campaign pledges aside, Obama and the rest of the administration toadies' eagerness to please their betters only further underlines who wears the pants in today's global...
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Are Brits Dumb Enough to Hold $511B in Treasuries?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 1/19/2011 12:02:00 AM
(OK, so that's an obviously loaded question. But hey, this is a blog for crying out loud.)With apologies to our Chinese colleagues, I generally hold one's Treasury holdings as a yardstick for one's gullibility. If you're dumb enough to own so much stake in a sunset nation like America, then you really have no one but yourself to blame when it inevitably goes down like, well, a Led Zeppelin. And speaking of the homeland of that legendary band, something striking that has not gained much notice is the United Kingdom supposedly having accumulated over half a trillion in these papers by November 2010. In a year's time if we are...
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Welcome to London, World's Most Open City

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 1/18/2011 12:07:00 AM
And now for a news flash from the clash of metropolises. Here's a consolation prize of sorts for London after receiving a beating during the "selection" process for the 2018 World Cup: a study commissioned by the British Council and the European Commission finds that, based on a range of criteria, London is the world's most open city. (Utterly unsurprising fact of the day for FIFA: 2022 World Cup host Doha, Qatar doesn't appear on the list of the top 25. Qataris make up for it by having bags of money to throw at soccer federations, but more on this later.) The full report isn't out just yet, so in the meantime, here's the...
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PRC's PR Stunt: Yanks Can Open RMB Accounts

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 1/17/2011 12:10:00 AM
A couple of years ago during the height of the energy price rises, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a widely-commented PR stunt by making the now Venezuelan government-majority owned firm CITGO sell discounted heating oil to disadvantaged Americans, the implication being that Hugo Chavez cared more about poor Americans than George W. Bush. In the run-up to President Hu Jintao visiting Washington DC on an official visit, we have arguably the same phenomenon at work. However, instead of the greedy energy industry and its favoured politicians, US currency debauchery is firmly in China's crosshairs this time around. Read...
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Chuka Umunna, 'British Obama,' Takes on Tax Havens

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 1/15/2011 10:50:00 AM
[Let me try my at hand at a compound post--something I haven't done in quite a while. In three parts, then...]I. After Barack Obama was elected president and before last year's UK general elections, there was some comment on how British politics could not or would not produce a British Obama:Britons are ready to elect a black prime minister - but the system may never give them a chance, a study concluded today. It found a "deepening tide of tolerance" over the past 50 years, with attitudes to race similar in Britain to the US. But America's political system was better at promoting black talent than Parliament or local councils.Author...
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Brazil-PRC Trade: Bikini Wars & Beyond

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 1/13/2011 12:02:00 AM
A few days ago, I featured Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega citing China for its unfair trade practices. Today, we feature a rather racy application of this complaint. While the affinity of the Chinese people for intimates is certainly beyond my realm of expertise (even if can vouch that Western-style billboards featuring underwear models are common in Chinese megalopolises), you can be sure that Chinese garment manufacturers love making them for the rest of the world. Only a few years back when Peter Mandelson was exiled to Brussels and served as the EU trade commissioner, he famously prosecuted the "bra wars" that...
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