Editor’s Note:
The following is a contributing piece by Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Mr. Chandrasekhar is a well-known and independent member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, representing the state of Karnataka. He was elected in May 2006 and was then unanimously re-elected for a …
In late 2012, vulture funds came to light with the bold seizure of an Argentine naval vessel, the ARA Libertad, in the Ghana port city of Tema. After two-and-a-half months under the control of the U.S.-based vulture fund NML capital – run by billionaire Paul Singer — the International …
Nicholas Whapshott’s 2011 book Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics, is a useful primer for those looking to understand the careers and philosophies of the two foundational economists. Perhaps its most striking insight is that neither seemed as absolute about the fact that his …
This week the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged China-located affiliates of the big five U.S. accounting firms with breaking securities laws by failing to provide documents from their audits of nine U.S.-listed Chinese firms under scrutiny. The SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) …
It’s that time of year again. Another 12 months has flown by. Companies and organizations are celebrating their 2012 achievements and are looking for areas of improvement in 2013. Offices, malls and schools are filled with holiday music and lights. South Africa is no different, but there is some stress, …
Some of the provisions in 2011 Budget Control Act, meaning the failure of the 2011 “supercommittee” to find $1.2 trillion in cuts, are sweeping the media back into a fury of preemptive Armageddon terror. The rapidly approaching sequestration (a procedure by which automatic spending cuts are implemented)–which …
A new regional economic platform, the Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF), spearheaded by the World Bank (WB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), mobilized more than 150 participants in Kingston’s University of the West Indies around a common concern: the region’s perennial economic failings. The two-day conference, held …
By Jim Wynn
Unemployment is currently a burning issue in this country as it is across the globe. Discussions about how best to create jobs feed our headline news fuel fierce political debate and will be a key factor in determining the outcome of our presidential election in November.
Although unemployment in the …
One of the primary responsibilities of any government is the management of the public purse: the government budget and the national debt. As developments in Europe demonstrate, bad management of government expenditures could lead to financial collapse and government default. Although the U.S. is in a …
Investors will be interested in purchasing Bolivian government bonds when they are issued, if for nothing more than diversification purposes. The planet is awash in liquidity. Furthermore, developed market fiscal crises (read: in Europe and the U.S.), coupled with high commodity prices and huge concentrations in bellwether emerging markets such …
The recent FPA conference, Africa Emerging (see this link), touched on a number of important themes related to Africa’s improving economic performance and the formidable challenges that lie ahead. One theme echoed louder than all the rest — the necessity for investment in human capital — in …
The following is a guest post by Ansis Spridzāns and Valentina Gevorgyan.
In 2008, Latvia, as a result of deteriorating economic conditions in the world and an international financial crisis that led to the collapse of the world’s second largest bank, faced an economic crisis. Although the reasons and the …
The Greek dimension of the EU sovereign debt crisis is by now well known to all. Investor anxiety over excessive national debt throughout the EU led to demands for higher interest rates from several governments with greater debt levels and current account deficits. This in turn made it …
In this bleak economic era, the only constants that have prevailed throughout the most part of the global financial crisis are risk and uncertainty. On January 12th, Standard and Poor’s downgraded France, joint-chief compere of the Eurozone’s economic horror show and its second largest economy. The very same day, the …
Great Decisions: Inside Indonesia (click for Great Decision video preview)
To its credit, FPA’s annual world affairs discussion program, Great Decisions, covered the strategically-important, but ambivalent, rising power, Indonesia. With all the focus on China, the BRICs, conflict in the Middle East, Afghanistan and the like, it is easy for …
