ECONOMICS AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS
January 25, 2013
"Work With China, Don't Contain It"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"But America's rebalancing toward Asia should not be aggressive. We should heed Mr. Kennan's warning against overmilitarization and ensure that China doesn't feel encircled or endangered. The world's two largest economies have much to gain from cooperation on fighting climate change, pandemics, cyberterrorism and nuclear proliferation."
whitehouse.gov
January 24, 2013
"What Obama Forgot: Economic Growth Is the Only Way to Social Progress"
Op-Ed, The Atlantic
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
In his inaugural speech, the president mentioned the obligations of "We the People" as individual citizens. But what's the role of businesses as corporate citizens?
January 22, 2013
"Italian Yields Began to Fall as Soon as Berlusconi was Ousted"
Op-Ed, Financial Times, Letter to the Editor
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
"To argue that 'Mr Monti promised reform and ended up raising taxes' is to grossly misunderstand an imperfect but positive labour reform, pension changes and progress on competitiveness, tax evasion and corruption."
January 22, 2012
"Reflections on President Obama's Inaugural Address, His Second Term and Presidential Leadership Style"
Op-Ed
By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy
"But the President's speech was light on the economic problem meaning that his biggest challenge will be to not repeat the mistakes of the first term by underestimating the pain and suffering of the recession. He can't assume that just because we're moving in the right direction, attention can be turned to other issues—worthy as they may be."
AP Images
January 21, 2013
"End the Damaging Obsession With Deficit"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor
In the two and a half months between the election and this week’s inauguration of President Barack Obama, America’s public policy debate has been focused on prospective budget deficits and what can be done to reduce them. Lawrence Summers writes that while we should address budget deficits, we should "not obsess over it in counterproductive ways – nor lose sight of the jobs and growth deficits that will ultimately have the greatest impact on the way this generation of Americans lives and what they bequeath to the next."
AP Images
January 17, 2013
"The Wrong Growth Strategy for Japan"
Op-Ed, Project Syndicate
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
Japan’s new government, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, could be about to shoot itself in the foot. Seeking to boost economic growth, the authorities may soon destroy their one great advantage: the low rate of interest on government debt and private borrowing. If that happens, Japanese conditions will most likely be worse at the end of Abe’s term than they are today.
January 10, 2013
"Good Foundation to Build on"
Op-Ed, China Daily
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa and Jia Hepeng
"China's rise as an industrial power owes a great deal to Japan providing technology at a critical moment. Following the Sino-Soviet split in the early 1960s, Japan emerged as a source of technology. By the 1970s Japan accounted for nearly 70 percent of China's technological imports. The imports also included strategic know-how as well as management practices. And, in a way, Japan served as an industrial role model for China at a time when the country was isolated from much of the world."
January 10, 2012
"The World in 2030"
Op-Ed, Social Europe Journal
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"The question of America's role in helping to produce a more benign world in 2030 has important implications for President Barack Obama as he approaches his second term. The world faces a new set of transnational challenges, including climate change, transnational terrorism, cyber insecurity, and pandemics. All of these issues require cooperation to resolve."
AP Images
January 10, 2013
"Why Are Some Sectors (Ahem, Finance) So Scandal-Plagued?"
Op-Ed, Harvard Business Review
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
In the past 25 years, the size of settlements, fines and penalties for individual corporations found guilty of wrongdoing has escalated from millions of dollars, to tens of millions, to hundreds of millions, to billions. Think Siemens and widespread bribery — about $2 billion. Or, bigger yet, think BP and the gulf disaster — almost $20 billion to date, with another $20 billion-plus likely in the future.
January 2, 2012
"Obama Missing in Action"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"Obama had seemed poised a few weeks ago to become at last the political leader the country needs. He won a brilliant election victory, using political tools so sophisticated that Republican strategists have been trying ever since to reverse-engineer them so they can avoid humiliating defeats. Obama spoke to the nation after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in a voice that was truly presidential in its restrained expression of deep grief. In short, Obama seemed ready to lead.
And then what happened?" asks David Ignatius of the Washington Post, as he explores how the President's momentum has been broken by the end-of-year 'fiscal cliff' wrangling, and what he can do to get back on track.
